If The World Crashes Down
by Gabriela Romero
Summary: Mimi is running for student President, too bad her nemesis, Tai, is also running against her. She likes Matt and he likes Sora-or so they think-and they reach a compromise to get what they want. But when a greater enemy surfaces, Tai and Mimi have to learn to forgive the past and truly accept each other. Their compromise falls apart, and love resurfaces in unexpected ways. Michi
1. Tai's Challenge

**If The World Crashes Down  
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**Summary:** Mimi is running for student President, too bad her nemesis, Tai, is also running against her. She likes Matt and he likes Sora (or so they think) and they reach a compromise to get what they want. But when a greater enemy surfaces, Tai and Mimi have to learn to forgive the past and truly accept each other. Their compromise falls apart, and love resurfaces in unexpected ways. A High School story about reconciliation and teenage love.

**Pairings:** **MimixTai**, SoraxMatt, and KairixT.K.

**Theme Song:** "If The World Crashes Down" by Enrique Iglesias

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><p><strong><em>Tai's Challenge<em>**

_Monday_

**-****Mimi**

Mimi Tachikawa clicked her tongue in annoyance when the pretty, blonde, _stupid_ girl that was leading the school musical forgot her lines for the umpteenth time during rehearsal. Haku, a handsome senior that had landed the male's leading role waited for Mimi's reaction apprehensively, also annoyed himself at the girl that was to act as his love interest and as a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood. "You know what honey," she told her in the sweetest voice she could muster, so that her sarcasm would be obvious, "If learning the lines is too much of a bother, why don't you let any of the other girls act your role? I'm sure they'd do just as good a job, if not better…"

The stage was quiet.

"Bitch." The pretty blond often tried to pretend that she liked everyone in the theater group, but in moments like these her more spiteful side shone. Once again she did a poor job hiding her dislike towards Mimi, and the entire crew heard her.

Mimi continued to smile sweetly and turned around, walking towards the back of the stage and away from sight, exhaling loudly once she was out of ear-shot. She had time—they had time; there was no need to get in a fight with the lead of the musical this early in the production.

The brunette glanced over to the theater professor's office, and as usual, for it was still early in the morning, he was sound asleep on his desk. Probably spluttering drool all over his paperwork and notes. Mimi laughed soundly. It wasn't a secret that their theater professor was careless, if not a slob, but to her he was a genius. He was the one directing the musical, for obvious reasons, but he was more often than not absent, and Mimi had landed the role of "Assistant Director." Along with such a title came powers and responsibilities, courtesy of her professor, so she couldn't complain.

"Ahem," someone coughed behind her and Mimi was startled from her reverie. She turned to see Kari standing right behind her, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh hey you're here early!" Mimi wasn't surprised. Kari might be just a freshman, but she was always very enthusiastic about the extracurricular activities she partook in, and in this case, her enthusiasm was directed towards theater. Someday she would be at the top of the theater company in the school, like she was, Mimi thought.

Kari had a grim expression on her face. The sort of I'm-about-to-deliver-nasty-news-so-brace-yourself expression. "Meems, I've got news, and you're not gonna like this."

"Really? Did Yuu fall off stage and split her ankle in two?" She referred to the blond lead, winning herself a smile from Kari, who also wasn't fond of the girl. Heck no one was.

"Umm no. But give me a couple days and I'll make it happen," Kari winked jokingly.

"A couple days! That's too much—"

"Mimi!" Kari giggled, eager to get to the point of her news.

"Ok… Ok… shoot."

Kari withdrew a sheet of paper from her backpack and handed it to Mimi, her eyes apprehensive of Mimi's reaction.

Mimi fingered the slightly crumpled piece of paper as her eyes widened and her pulse quickened. "_Vote President for Tai Kamiya" _was written in big bold letters as a title to the piece of paper, and below, as a small subtitle read _"He might just make a better and funner Student Council President. Kick the monotony that Mimi Tachikawa will be and embrace the change Tai Kamiya will bring!"_

"Funner? FUNNER? That's not even a word!" Mimi wasn't hysterical about the obvious grammatical typo, or the blatant message against her, but the fact that none other than Tai Kamiya was challenging her by running against her. "What is this! Where did you find it?"

Kari cringed and shrugged. "It's all over the school. I snatched this one on the way here and almost had my ass chewed out by some pompous cheerleader that saw me. _'Don't touch that you little freshman blah blah…'"_ she mocked.

"Ugh!"

The short-haired freshman was wise enough to step back a couple inches.

"Your brother is such an insufferable ego-maniac! Tell me, what business does he have running against me! He has absolutely no experience in being in the student council, or leadership as a matter of fact."

"Well he is captain—" the younger girl was about to chirp in about the soccer team but Mimi quickly saw it coming. Mimi was also purposely not counting the fact that he was their leader in the Digital World…

"That doesn't count!"

Kari hung her hands up in defense and grimaced, feeling another one of Mimi's mad rants regarding Tai about to unfold.

"You know what this means, right?" Mimi paced in front of the sleeping professor's office back and forth.

"You guys are going to work nicely and overcome your differences and have a nice clean campaign?" Kari asked hopefully—almost helplessly.

"This means war."

**333**

**-Matt**

Matt was part of the majority of students that hated first period. It was _way_ too early in the morning to absorb anything, let alone pay attention to dull professors that droned on and on about things most teenagers didn't give a rat's ass about. So he was sympathetic when everyone wailed and moaned about first period. To him, however, it wasn't so awful. In fact, to some extent he even felt privileged, for he had Sora in his first period class.

Merely moments after the first bell finished ringing, nearly the whole classroom was filled by sleepy students, and the seat next to him was occupied by a certain fiery-haired athlete. Sora Takenouchi moaned in annoyance as she slammed her General Chemistry textbook on top of their lab tables, clearly fazed by the instructions upon the blackboard, telling them to turn to page 245 for additional reading.

"Hey," Matt's lips twitched a pretty smile. The sort of smile he had subconsciously reserved for Sora and Sora only.

"Oh God. Acid-Base reactions. Again? I thought we'd finish this, what, ages ago?" The red-head nearly melted on top of her opened textbook dramatically, pretending to be miserable.

"Not unless you traveled to the future," Matt murmured a chuckle.

"Honestly, Matt, how do you enjoy this?" Sora asked while she idly drew doodles on his notebook.

And he erased them as soon as she was done drawing them, "I don't, but if you make it seem like torture, well then, it will be torture."

Sora simply moved a strand of her red hair behind her ear, smiling up at him, and the blond had to look away, lest she see the blush building up on his cheeks.

It wasn't until they were well into the lesson when Matt suddenly remembered the idea he had back when he was by his locker, sleepy and annoyed. He turned to Sora who seemed to be snoozing on top of her textbook for the tenth time today and poked her arm.

She hissed and glared at him, obviously annoyed that he had interrupted her nap. "Matt, I'll let you know the softball and the soccer coaches will kill you if I don't have enough energy today for practice."

"Didn't you get enough sleep last night," he rolled his eyes in boredom.

"Was surfing the web—"

"Surfing through porn? No doubt." She then punched his arm lightly in response, ducking out of view when the professor turned to look at her in suspicion.

Once the coast was clear, she looked back towards Matt, glaring playfully and saying, "I'm sure you didn't wake me from my chemistry-nap just to berate me about my porn-viewing ways?"

"'Course not; that's hot."

"Matt!"

This time the professor noticed, and he cleared his throat loudly and asked, "Is there a problem, Miss Takenouchi?"

Sora smirked before replying, "Oh no sir, it's just that these Acidic Hydrogens are giving me heart burn."

There was a soft murmur of laughter amongst the class, including Matt, and the professor hid a smirk before ordering her, "Get back to your reading, young lady."

They waited a couple more minutes before Sora asked, "So, what's up?"

Matt inched closer, so not to be heard by the professor, and said, "I miss hanging out with the group, you know, the _whole_ group."

Sora's smile immediately fell. She hated talking about this. "I know, I miss it, too. But… there's not much we can do."

The blond before her chuckled in cynicism, "Tai's running for President."

"So I've heard. Mimi's probably livid."

"How long has it been since we've all hung out?" It was now Matt's turn to idly doodle right on top of Sora's notes, making her hiss and shove them right on top of her lap, out of view.

"This whole semester probably. At least Mimi didn't choose to endlessly wail and moan about Tai to you," Sora said jokingly and they both laughed.

Once or twice Matt had to stand his textbook up right and hide behind it, so that the professor didn't catch him snickering. "I want all of us to start hanging out again, Sora," he told her once she was able to control her silent giggles.

"Not possible. It's way too fucking impossible with those two, and we can't exclude them either, it's not right—" Sora's words were cut off by the bell, and the two teens jumped in excitement, shutting their textbooks with much pleasure. "Finally, God, can this class be any longer?"

"Don't wish it." Matt whispered right behind her amongst the pitter patter of students quickly shuffling out of class.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Mimi walked out from the Art hallway in a rush. Some sophomore had gotten in a fight with one of the techs in the theater production, and it was either she clean up their mess, or a teacher get involved and bring some hell on the production and on Mr. Watanabe, the theater professor. She preferred the former. So she was now late to her locker and possibly had even less time to get to her second period class.

The brunette rounded a corner in a hurry, waltzing in to the lockers hallway, and her face turned hot in annoyance when she saw none other than Tai Kamiya tossing a soccer ball on an unsuspecting freshman across the hall; a freshman who she clearly remembered being part of her musical production. "_Tai Kamiya_," her voice was icy and loud, and she felt overly satisfied when she saw him cringe at the sound of her voice. "You're twice his size and bullying him. Oh wait. That's just your need to make up for smaller things," Mimi smirked as she approached him.

His brown eyes almost glowed in annoyance when he saw her approach. A couple students had stopped their transit when they saw the beginning of their exchange, already knowing something was probably going down. "If it isn't Tachikawa, protector of the geeks," He smarted back. "Do you get pleasure from interfering in other people's business?"

Mimi had an internal battle of whether or not to be offended by his words. He'd called her a protector. Alas of the geek. Then she cursed herself inwardly and remembered this was Tai Kamiya; no compliment ever out of that mouth. "Do you get pleasure from attacking my freshmen with your stupid ball?" She mimicked his tone.

"_Your_ freshmen?" Tai accentuated, not backing down from the Mimi that had walked dangerously close.

"Oh who would have guessed that Tai Kamiya could pass through grammar school. Good job, soccer star," She mocked, announcing it to the whole hallway, in which by now a considerable amount of students had stopped in curiosity.

"Wow I'm surprised, you have a sense of humor? I don't recall them teaching you that in _bitch school_," He leaned down in front of her, so that his face was inches away from hers.

"Why are you running for president?" She hissed now that he was so close to her.

He chuckled in her face then turned away, back to rummaging for things in his locker, as if unaffected by the exchange. "So this is what this is about? I was beginning to think you had a serious case of menopause," He eventually told her.

"Answer my damn question!" Mimi nearly yelled.

Tai swiftly turned around and told her loudly, startling her, "So that I don't have to take this _shit_ from you, Mimi! The self-proclaimed queen of the art department now wants to be the self-proclaimed queen of the junior class? I think not."

"You've no idea what you're doing," Mimi said between clenched teeth, seemingly controlling herself from seething.

"Oh and you do?"

"I am your current Vice President, jackass. You can thank me and Joe for your stupid pep rallies and car washes and all that other crap." The hallway was now considerably thinning, seeing how the bell was merely minutes away from ringing.

"No. You mean I can thank _Joe_ for the pep rallies and car washes and "all that other crap." If it were for you we'd have musicals and stupid show-casing galleries all year long." Now that he had his necessary books, Tai slammed his locker shut and rounded on her, saying, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to go to."

Without a last glance, Tai strolled away from her and out of sight, leaving her standing alone in the hallway. She cursed under her breath and swore to herself to get back at him, then rushed to another hallway, remembering that she, too, would be late to class.

**333**

**-Matt**

Matt was on his way from his locker to History when he saw Mimi and Tai talking—no, fighting, on the other side of the hallway, and thought it was best if he lingered, in case things got out of control. Things always got out of control, mind you, but just for the sake of his friends, he waited patiently. Out of sight, of course, in case either of them forced him to take a side.

He grimaced as he remembered a time when it wasn't like this, like when they were all best friends and going to the Digital World and hanging out every afternoon. Even when Mimi and Tai were dating, that was also kinda nice. Up until the break up that slowly spiraled out of control until they were both gnawing at each other's throats whenever they had a chance. If anyone wanted proof of why friends ought not to date, this was it. Now their group had split and everyone had to go their own ways.

Matt ducked behind a corner and out of sight when he saw Tai walking—scratch that—angrily marching his way. He re-emerged after the furious soccer player had strolled away and directed his attention towards Mimi. She seemed down, he decided, and by the expression on her face he could tell she'd lost this one. The blond adjusted his backpack and jogged to catch up to her. Maybe he'd walk her to class today. They did have, after all, History together.

"Hey, Meems, wait up," he'd caught up to her and she was surprised to see him. Her eyes were more sparkly than usual, had she been close to tears?

"Oh. Hi Matt," Her voice wasn't very enthusiastic but she had definitely cheered up after seeing him.

"Let's walk together—"

"Oh I don't feel like rushing there," Mimi quickly interrupted him in defeat.

"It's Ok. I don't mind being late." Matt smiled at her and her face considerably brightened. "So tell me, how's that musical going? Sora told me you're pretty much doing all the work."

"Yeah, I saw the booklet and I'm going to be credited as Assistant Director. Yay." That didn't sound too enthusiastic.

"Dude, I heard your teacher smokes weed and shit," He laughed just as the second period bell rang.

Mimi, too, couldn't help but laughing. "They do say that, though between me and you I can tell you that sometimes his bag and even his clothes smell like weed when he comes in during the afternoon."

Matt stared at her, wide eyed. Now _that_ was a cool professor. "You're shitting me!"

"Haha, I know, right? But don't tell anyone, cause I love him to pieces!" Mimi gave him a playful, menacing glare and laughed along with him. He noticed how she had intertwined her arm into his as they walked, but he dismissed it as a friendly gesture. "Say Matt, I've been meaning to ask you, but was worried you'd think it'd be too silly to do."

"Sup?" He asked absentmindedly, his eyes on the door to History class across the hall.

"Would you and your band mind being part of the musical? I could talk to Mr. Watanabe and he totally wouldn't mind adjusting the script to squeeze you guys in. It'd be kinda cool…" Her voice trailed and diminished, as if she was already expecting him to reject the offer.

Matt pretended to be deep in thought for a while, but he was game from the beginning. "Hmm let me see… does it involve coming in after school?" He pondered aloud, as if it were a liability.

"Aw come on!" Mimi tugged on his arm playfully for a little while.

"Aight! Aight!"

Mimi's squeals of delight echoed throughout the entire hallway. She jumped up and pressed her lips hard against his cheek, leaving a pink lipstick mark upon it, and practically waltzed in to class moments before him.

**333**

**-Sora**

"So… Joe told me that I should probably start picking my Vice President and signing him up," Mimi commented casually before blowing on the cherry red nail polish she had applied to her left hand.

"Does the Vice President have to campaign with you? Do they have to be elected?" Sora was laying on the other side of Mimi's bedroom, her eyes on the television as she absentmindedly flipped through channels.

Now satisfied with her left hand, Mimi turned her attention to her right. "Not really. The moment the President wins their chosen Vice President gets in. That's how it was with me and Joe last year," she told her best friend.

"Oh right, forgot. I don't really keep up with Student Council, you know…" Sora flipped herself over to stare at the ceiling, seeing how there was nothing good on television.

"I want you to be my Vice President," Mimi suddenly stated.

Sora nearly choked on her own saliva. She wanted her to do _what_?

"Oh come on please please pleaseeee," Mimi suddenly crawled on top of the bed and was nearly on top of Sora, giving her the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster.

"Oh but Meems, why me? That's like, I won't be Switzerland anymore…" She told her brunette friend begrudgingly.

"Why would you want to be Switzerland anyways!" Mimi immediately flared up, as if she were the red-head and not Sora.

"Because whatever fight there's between you and Tai should just stay that way—between you and Tai," Sora wailed, her eyes on anything but Mimi.

"There wouldn't be any fight if he hadn't run against me in the elections! Sora he's such a conceited prick!"

_And so are you_, she thought of saying, but decided against it. Under any other circumstance she would have said it, but Tai was a delicate subject to Mimi.

"Please? With a cherry and sprinkles and caramel fudge and icing on top?" Mimi caught Sora's brown eyes and her gaze was captivating. "With blueberry frozen yogurt on top?" Oh Mimi had said it. This was her favorite.

"You'll treat me with frozen yogurt!" Mimi quickly nodded vigorously like a little child. "Every Friday for the duration of your presidency!" Again, Mimi didn't hesitate before nodding.

It was after a little while when the room fell silent that Sora began thinking again, not about Mimi and her quarrels with Tai, but about Matt. Something was so very captivating about him to her, but she thought herself wise and decided to learn from other people's mistakes. _Ahem_, Mimi's and Tai's mistakes.

The two broke up last semester, so by now it was safe to ask, "So Mimi, do you like anyone yet?" Sora asked in a singsong voice.

"Does Matt like anyone?" Mimi quickly asked, almost as if she had been waiting for Sora to bring up the topic of crushes. Sora's eyes narrowed, but she had been staring at the ceiling, so Mimi didn't see.

"Not that I know of, Meems…"

Mimi sighed and she commented in a blissful voice, "You know, I used to like him back when we first had our adventure in the Digital World."

"Aaaand you think you like him again now?" Sora knew her friend all too well.

Mimi immediately sat up and she casted a tragic expression on her face, "Is it too obvious, Sora?"

Sora just chuckled and answered, "No, Mimi, I just know you too well." Her answer made her get an enormous hug from the brunette.

"See if you can get out anything of him… maybe while you're in Chemistry… if he likes anyone…" Mimi whispered hopefully after a little while, and Sora nodded, almost automatically. Sora held the Crest of Love for a reason. Sure, she felt somewhat attracted to Matt, but also felt her loyalty and love for Mimi run deeper than her affection for him. She would not hurt Mimi's feelings over a silly love triangle. It was best if she stayed away from Matt anyways, that way they wouldn't end up like Mimi and Tai, she decided. And maybe, just maybe, Matt and Mimi were made for each other, and Mimi wouldn't end up gaining yet another mortal enemy…

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><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	2. Dawn of a Plan

**_Dawn of a Plan_**

_Tuesday_

**-Tai**

Tai Kamiya loved to linger by the soccer field early in the morning while his team warmed up and mingled. He couldn't quite pin-point it. Maybe it was the crisp spring breeze that engulfed his senses, or the gushing sound of busy students practicing around the grass, or perhaps it was simply the sight of all the gorgeous ladies that composed the female soccer team. Never bothered by anyone, Tai always found himself standing by the same fence nearly every morning, his eyes surveying every student that ever set afoot the two soccer fields. The teenager leaned on the fence with a self-satisfied smile on his lips and shamelessly watched the girls on the other side of the field run their usual laps.

Nearly two dozen girls jogged one right in front of the other, and as they circled the field and came closer to his side of the fence, they would blush and wave. Tai figured he wasn't immediately judged as a pervert for watching them run—watching their developing chests bounce and their hips sway with each step—because he was the captain and self-proclaimed star of the boys' team. His moment of privacy was interrupted when he heard someone approach him from his right and felt a welcoming pat on his shoulder.

Davis settled next to him, also leaning in on the fence in the same inconspicuous way and admiring the view of teenage girls now performing their routine stretches. "Sup," Davis eventually said.

Tai didn't feel he had to return the greeting, for it was typical of them to just wait by the fences and stare at the pretty athletes every morning before practice. After a little while his brown eyes settled on a certain red-head player on the other side, and suddenly he couldn't think about any other girl any longer. "Sora again?" He heard Davis comment beside him and Tai had to restrain the urge to frown.

"She's the best, you know?" Tai scratched his temple, his eyes following her as she brought her feet together and leaned forward for a couple butterfly stretches.

"Are you saying it because you like her or because she's actually good?" Davis asked him in an amused tone, already knowing the answer himself.

A low, threatening growl escaped Tai's throat and he replied with a glare, "I say it because she truly is. She really gives it her all. And what makes you think I like her anyways?"

Davis laughed to himself and turned his back to the fence, his eyes now on his own teammates. "You're not going to tell me the only reason you blissfully stare at the girls' field every morning is because you enjoy watching their boobs jiggle while they practice?" The two teens laughed as they imagined Davis' exaggeration in their heads. A gorgeous set of triple D blondes materialized themselves in Tai's mind; they jugged together clad in very loose bras and tiny shorts and winked at him as they ran past him…

Tai had to forcefully shake the thought away and said, "So what if I do like her? We'd look good together, too. Don't you think?" Davis shrugged in indifference, making Tai exhale loudly in annoyance at his lack of input—some friend he was.

The girls began their daily practice routine and Tai's interest quickly evaporated, and so he, too, turned his back to the fence. "I used to have this huge crush on Sora while we were in the Digital World, and when we came back I was almost convinced we belonged together… but then, I don't know—"

"But then Mimi happened?" Davis interrupted him carelessly.

"You could say that…" Tai responded slowly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. What was Davis getting at anyways?

"What happened between you two anyways? It's almost like some shit-crazy drama unfolded between you both—"

"And that is none of your business." Tai quickly interrupted him, now angered. Mimi was a touchy subject to him, and he wasn't about to let Davis' careless attitude have any opinion about what did or did not happen. "You seem especially nosey today… why don't you join the team in doing some laps? Maybe some early morning jogging can entertain your curious mind." Tai motioned towards the rest of the team, who had begun circling the field at a steadily increasing pace.

"Aw come on man, that's not fair!"

"Go!"

**333**

**-Kari**

The bustle of students coming and going across the lockers' hallway kept Kari preoccupied for a small second. She felt she was crossing wild rapids in some uninhabited wilderness, as rushing students kept walking in opposite directions. The four-foot-nine girl decided she would be trampled if she stepped across at the wrong moment, and so she lingered wordlessly waiting for the passing of students to clear, her locker waiting for her on the other side of the hallway.

Somebody captured her attention when they slipped their arm into hers, almost as if they could sense her dilemma. Kari looked up and blushed profoundly when she saw Davis holding her arm. He winked down at her and boldly stepped into the crowd, expertly maneuvering their paths until they both reached her locker. "Thanks," Kari finally worded breathlessly.

Davis offered her one of his charming smiles and said, "You looked like a damsel in distress back there."

Kari opened her locker and was glad the opened door of her locker hid her blushing face. "So I guess that makes you the knight in shining armor?" She enjoyed having these exchanges with Davis, it was almost like there was a little innate actor inside of him all along.

"Not all the time…"

"Oh no?" Kari tucked a small strand of her hair behind her ear and directed her stare at the depths of her locker. She had already gathered her things, but felt as if she needed the door of her locker to remain open that way, to protect her from Davis' radiating charm.

"Only when _you _are the damsel in distress."

Kari wanted to duck her head in her backpack and hide her burning face for eternity. She loved Davis to pieces, mind you, but she just couldn't handle it when Davis began prophesying words of whimsical enamorment that neither of them could really understand. "The crowd is thinning…" Kari told him with a tiny voice, "I can walk to class now." She smiled up at him and prayed to the heavens he wasn't about to offer to walk her to class.

Just at that very moment someone else joined the scene, and Kari was convinced a guardian angel had answered her prayers. "Kari—" Mimi's voice had acquired that unpleasant pitch of whenever she addressed Tai or any of his friends.

"Mimi…" Davis' disappointment was almost tangible.

"Davis." Mimi gave him a mean, ear-to-ear smile that immediately deflated his charm. "Isn't your class at the other side of the school? You're going to be late." And almost as if he didn't want to defy her words or pick a fight, Davis gave Kari one last, sheepish smile and turned away.

Once Davis was out earshot Kari took a deep, and much needed, breath of relief and finally closed her locker door. She felt rotten for having so many mixed feelings towards Davis, but she was also _so_ afraid that one day he would gather enough courage to actually try something. Kari loved him as a _friend_. And in her head, the only temporary solution was that the longer she avoided him, the less chance she would actually have to reject him one day.

**333**

**-Tai**

Tai was going to be late, he knew it. He didn't care much about being counted tardy every once in a while in his classes, but this one in particular he already had a nasty record. His teacher had given him one of those warnings that if he continued to be tardy he would take the issue to his soccer coach. In other words, his Math teacher was prepared to jeopardize Tai's spot in the soccer team. This at first he scoffed aside, but it wasn't up until a baseball jock with a similar tardiness record was finally kicked out of his team for a season that Tai began to take such frivolities seriously.

So every morning after his second period class Tai made it his mission to rush through to the other side of the school as quickly as possible. Him being Tai, however, made that task rather complicated. He was continuously stopped by passing friends who would want to share the latest gossip, or discuss the newest practice routine, or even share and copy closely due homework. And, of course, he wasn't even counting the fact that he had to pass through his locker and, when he was being especially _unlucky_, he would regrettably run into Mimi.

Only a couple minutes until the bell and Tai was immensely grateful the hallways were considerably thinning. He turned a corner, deciding to skip visiting his locker, and nearly cursed aloud when he saw none other than Mimi and Kari walking through the hallway. Tai caught sight of Davis walking in the opposite direction, and the poor freshman had a deflated look on his face that Tai only assumed was because he had been unfortunate enough to run into Mimi.

The hallways were empty enough that he was able to catch bits and pieces of their conversation. "—Really Kari I admire just how sweet you can be sometimes, but you need to tell him the truth—that nothing is ever going to happen between you two. I would have told him to lay off a long time ago." Tai wanted to roll his eyes; of course Mimi would exaggerate with something like that. But he knew her better, and Mimi was the biggest tough-guy poseur to ever set foot in Odaiba High.

"Say, isn't there something between you and T.K. anyways?" It was almost sickening listening to Mimi when she spoke in such a gentle tone. Anybody would be surprised that a real bitch was hiding behind that façade all along. He walked a safe distance away from them, close enough that he could slightly eavesdrop on their conversation but far enough that he was camouflaged by the occasional passing student.

Kari had said something soft enough that he couldn't quite understand, and Mimi giggled with a "But think about it, it's not safe to fraternize with the enemy that way. Davis could just want to use you, I mean, you know how those soccer players are."

Her nerve! She was talking shit about him to his own sister! And Davis wanting to use Kari? Was that a joke? Could Mimi stoop so low? "Don't be telling Kari what to do," Tai blurted out before he could stop himself, even though a little voice in the back of his head screamed at him to stay quiet because _he was going to be late_.

Mimi immediately whipped around and her eyes narrowed, theatrically almost, as if she had been expecting him to suddenly pop out of nowhere. "Well well, we got a stalker in our hands here," her voice was so cold it even hurt him hear her speak.

"Oh come on, stop acting like you're the only person that deserves to walk in this school." Tai rolled his eyes and stopped a safe distance away from her.

"Look Tai," she hissed, "Tell your dumb soccer players to keep their slimy hands off Kari. I mean, aren't you her brother? Shouldn't you be a little more protective of her?"

Kari had backed against a locker nervously, but she didn't walk away afraid both would scream at her to stay and witness their fight.

"Davis is not just anybody!" Tai wanted to shake some sense into her—the more violently the better. She could be so infuriating sometimes; picking fights out of the stupidest things. "And you're right; I'm her brother and now I'm telling her to stay away from _you_, wouldn't want the _bitch_ in you rubbing off on her."

If Mimi were an anime character her hair would have gone Super Saiyan mode by now. She took a step forward and smirked darkly as she retorted, "What's the matter Tai? Upset that you know she would rather listen and talk to me instead of having to deal with all the retarded shit that comes out of that mouth of yours?"

The blood rushed to his face in sheer anger and he had to stop himself from taking a step closer to his murderous ex-girlfriend. "Well, are you just going to stand there and say nothing?" This he directed to his sister, who had considerably shrunk deeper into the locker, hoping to silently slip away while they were still going at each other's throats.

It seemed that this angered her, for she delivered him a glare and quickly said, "Don't drag me into this!" Kari held her hands up and began walking away, as if they had crossed the line. "Whatever beef you two have is none of my business _anymore_!" With that she spun around and left them alone in the, now empty, hallway.

"That sounded like a confirmation to me," Mimi waved her hand in a haughty manner, her smirk only widening.

"Oh lay off—"

"Good! Finally we agree on something!" The ringing of the bell caught them by surprise, making Mimi jump slightly on her heels. Tai would have continued arguing until it was _him_ that walked away victor, but now he was most certainly late. "Next time jackass, do me a favor and stay out of my conversations."

He chose not to reply, for it was awkward enough having to rush to class in the same direction as her. It wasn't until he reached his Math class that he was able to take a relieved breath, and waiting for him was his teacher ready to count him tardy, yet again. Great.

**333**

**-Matt**

The tension in their group had reached a record high point, it seemed. The universe was playing a twisted joke on them, Matt concluded when their English teacher announced that for the next two weeks they would be working on a creative writing project that involved heavy peer editing. Said teacher also happened to pair up groups based on everyone's technical skill and writing prowess, and surprise surprise, his group was now composed of Sora, Izzy, Mimi _and_ Tai. Amongst their friends it was a well-known fact that anything that included both personas—Mimi _and_ Tai—together was bound to end in disaster.

Were teachers that oblivious to ongoing student body tensions and drama?

All five of them then had to rearrange their desks so they would be sitting right next to each other, to "promote peer to peer learning," his teacher had said. They arranged their desks into a crooked circle and poor Izzy was brave enough to sit in-between Tai and Mimi. Matt exchanged a helpless glance with Sora, who had busied herself with keeping Mimi entertained with some extra writing work, then looked over at Tai—whose body language was even facing as far away as possible from Mimi—and Matt realized something must have recently happened between them.

"Lastly class, before I forget," his teacher giggled as she finished explaining the conditions of their assignment, "Remember that all individual written works that you will turn in have to be revised by each and every one of your group members! So keep that in mind so you don't forget anybody!" There was a low mumble of disagreement within the class and Matt was slightly apprehensive of the murderous glares Tai was delivering to their teacher. English was Tai's least favorite class, and this new assignment meant that he had to get his writing ridiculed by Mimi. Said girl had her gaze fixed on her papers, her lips smirking in contempt.

Sora surprised him by slipping a small note onto his notebook, in which was scribbled, "_How much do you think I'll have to pay the teacher to bail out on this project?_"

Matt smirked and quickly scribbled right below her words, "_You can't! Don't leave me with them all alone!_"

The red-head snatched the piece of paper and giggled quietly, hiding the note once Mimi gave her a questioning look, and replied, "_Ok, you bail too :)_"

"_Haha and leave Izzy to fend for himself against these hungry lions? You're evil!_"

"_I joke, I joke!_" Once again Mimi tried to peek over at their written conversation, but Sora quickly turned her body away to hide what she was writing. "_See how we can't ever hang out?_"

"_I guess,_" His writing became slower in disappointment. He just missed spending quality time with his fellow Digi-Destined, especially with Sora. And he couldn't just ask her to hang out with him, _alone_. Matt tried his best to stop the blush that was creeping onto his cheeks. Wouldn't that be like a date?

**333**

**-Davis**

Davis gripped the edges of his desk anxiously as if he were holding on to it for dear life. His brown eyes were set on the clock poised on the other side of his classroom, next to the teacher that went on and on and on about his history lesson. "Five… four… three…" Davis counted down in a whisper, and nearly bolted out of his desk when the last bell of the day rang. Davis, along with other two dozen students, gathered his school things with haste and almost sprinted out of the classroom, immensely grateful that the school day was over.

He strolled past the lockers, dodged shrilly girls that jumped and screeched as they met with their boyfriends and best friends, and even evaded jocks that tossed balls from across the halls and teachers handing detentions. His mind was set in arriving to the gyms as soon as possible, for he knew that a certain _someone_ had a tendency to visit the soccer field after school to see her older brother off. He would catch that _someone_ by surprise, for she was an easily startled girl, and he would sweep her off her feet until she loved him.

Davis reached the doors to the soccer lockers and his enthusiasm evaporated once he saw Tai walking away towards the soccer fields, and Kari was nowhere in sight. He lingered by a corner, simply feeling silly, and decided that today just wasn't going to be _that_ day; the day when he finally had the courage to come clean about his feelings. Davis huffed, made to turn to the soccer fields, and right at that instant crashed—hard—against a tiny person that was tackled to the floor.

"Oomph!" Kari exclaimed as her butt came in contact with the tiled floor, and Davis immediately kneeled to her aid in sheer embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh, Kari, are you alright?" Davis took a gentle hold of her hand while he knelt and she recovered from the fall, and he couldn't help noticing the crimson blush that settled on her cheeks as their hands touched.

"—Yeah, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking…" She adverted her gaze to her side where her cell phone had fallen, and Davis caught a glimpse of the text-message conversation she had been having with T.K. before crashing into him. A brief pang of jealousy shot through him; _he_ wasn't in texting terms with Kari. His eyes tried to read their exchanged text messages, as he was inwardly concerned about T.K.'s and Kari's relationship, but Kari was quick in taking her phone and placing it in her pocket.

All uncertainties brushed aside, Davis took her hand and helped her to her feet, his heart swelling at the pretty smile she offered him in thanks. "Seeing Tai off?" Davis asked her casually.

"Yeah… This is usually the time when he demands what he wants for lunch…" Kari looked down and brushed the dust off her jeans.

Davis smiled goofily, loving her all the more for being so attentive to her brother. "You're too nice to him," He leaned closer, so she was surprised when she looked up to gaze into his eyes and instead realized he was so very close to her. Davis gently lifted her chin with his fingers and Kari flushed red at his touch.

"I've never seen you being affectionate like this to any other guy…" But in the very back of his mind Davis knew this was a lie, for he remembered her being this way to a certain blond-haired Digi-Destined…

Kari swiftly stepped back, breaking contact with him and replied, "Yeah, well he is my brother… And he's just as nice to me."

There was a second's pause which Davis used to inhale heavily as he gathered all his courage; he was sure his Crest would be glowing red by now if he had been wearing it. The boy chuckled nervously and finally said, "Let's hang out this Friday."

"What? But you know it's impossible with _them _two—"

"No, I don't mean with the group," Davis tsk'ed; all throughout High School it had become an unspoken agreement that hanging out meant that _everyone_ would be hanging out, but because of the recent animosities between Tai and Mimi the group had been unable to do just that. "I mean, let me take you out…" His heart pounded so strongly against his chest Davis could almost hear it in his eardrums.

She frowned and before she could reply her rejection Davis blurted out, "Just because they're miserable doesn't mean _we_ have to be!" He thought of Mimi and his blood boiled—she loved to ruin his advances with Kari, and all just to spite Tai.

Kari hesitated, and knowing that she was about to turn him down, Davis was left to use his final trump card against the unsuspecting teenage girl. Ego pushed aside, Davis gave her the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could muster, and pouted his lips in the cutest way possible before saying, "Come on…"

The brown-haired girl giggled, patted his shoulder, and replied with a wink, "Alright. What do you wanna do?"

Davis had to control himself from jumping in excitement, lest he came off as a little too desperate. He thought for a couple seconds, and the first thing that crossed his mind he blurted out in his exhilaration, "You still have your bike, right?"

She nodded and he continued, "Let's go bike riding this Friday, I know of this badass trail, you'll love it!"

Kari gave him a little dry smile, doubting whether or not this would be a good idea, but felt okay nonetheless to give it a try. "Sounds good," she finally said and was surprised when he offered her his hand.

"Walk you home?" Davis had that charming smile that confused Kari's beating heart to no end.

"Don't you have Soccer practice?"

"It can wait."

**333**

_Wednesday_

**-Mimi**

"But you see my dearest Mimi, I can smell talent when I see it," Mr. Watanabe half-mindedly waved his fork at her, small specks of garlic and pepper falling off his steak and onto his wooden desk. "And you are one of the few students that can actually recognize an opportunity when it comes knocking on their door…"

Mimi wasn't listening however, her eyes were on the clock positioned behind her theater professor, and a little voice in the back of her mind told her she would be late to English. Mimi wasn't fond of being tardy, but solely that wasn't the reason why she was so preoccupied for being late to her fifth period class. Today was Speech Wednesday, which meant that she had to deliver a presidential speech to her class during one of their most important periods—English, a class she shared with her fellow Juniors, her friends and, most unfortunately, her presidential opponent, Tai.

She leaned away from Mr. Watanabe's desk and slumped deeper into the chair, resigned. Mr. Watanabe never noticed her predicament as he went on and on about how he was so proud of the play's progress, mostly all courtesy of her efforts. "Students don't realize that directing a play can give them hands-on experience on the real show-biz industry," Mimi was thankful that her careless professor was well-mannered enough to swallow his mouthfuls before speaking. "They just don't want to associate themselves with such responsibility—" he nearly dropped a small broccoli onto official-looking papers, but was quick enough to grab the green food before it stained any more papers on his desk.

They were both startled by the ringing on the bell, and the clueless man suddenly asked, "What the devil is that for?"

"Lunch is over, sir. Fifth period is about to start…" Mimi eyed her empty plate helplessly and wished he had been quicker about eating his meal. Earlier in the day the theater professor had ordered two expensive-looking meals from a nearby restaurant and had invited her for lunch to talk about the upcoming play, which he was supposed to be directing but had left all to Mimi. Of course she accepted the invite, for she felt like a grown up, having lunch with her boss and discussing important business regarding her play. Or at least that was what she had imagined. Instead Mr. Watanabe dedicated the whole lunch period to rant about people in the acting industry and how she was such an inspiration to him for being so responsible and so young.

He was also a slow eater, it seemed, for he was merely a few bites into his food when Mimi was almost all the way through eating her meal. Mimi anxiously packed her empty disposable plate and fork and knife and made to throw it out. "I hope I'm not keeping you, Mimi—" then, as if thinking it twice, he chuckled and added, "Oh I'm sure I'm not, honestly though, high school was such a waste of time for me back in my day… I can give you a permission slip or something so you're not counted tardy. I know you'd rather be here that in one of those boring lectures—"

"Actually sir," Mimi was thankful for his flatly-put honesty, but today she actually cared if she made it or not to her English class in time. "I really need to go… there's this speech I need to give in class…"

Mr. Watanabe nearly jumped in his seat in embarrassment and began looking for a permission slip in one of his drawers. "I'm so sorry child, I had no idea—"

"It's alright sir," Mimi had already thrown out her empty plate and had readied her backpack. "I don't need a tardy note, I can make it in time," She offered him a smile before bolting out of his office.

The second bell rang and Mimi was nowhere near her classroom. Her insides panicked; what would her fellow classmates think of her if she was late to her own speech? Would they trust her enough to make her their class President after that? Tai would surely take advantage of her slip no doubt; he would probably declare that Mr. Watanabe's sloppiness was rubbing on her now.

Mimi power-walked all the way to her classroom and by the time she entered the room she was already huffing and puffing, some of her ruffled hair stuck out at odd angles, and her face flushed red in exhaustion. She received a glare from her English teacher and was terrified to see that Tai was already standing in front of their class, giving his speech. Mimi snuck to a lonely seat in the back of the class and glared daggers in retaliation at him, who sneered down at her while he smugly talked to the whole class.

"I know Joe never bothered to make the school extra fun, that's why I'm planning on taking us to the next level," Tai natural leadership abilities shone brightest when he was standing in front of a crowd, ready to take command. "Think about it… our lunches are too damn short—" Their English teacher coughed loudly to express her dislike for his choice of words, and the class chuckled in unison, but he continued anyways. "How amazing would it be to have longer lunches? And actually have real snacks in the vending machines, none of that healthy organic cra—stuff." Tai smirked at his slip, and the whole class laughed again at his charisma. "I'm talking about Snickers, M&M's, Pocky, Pepsi—honestly who wants to eat Aunt Jenny's Dried Prunes or whatever that stuff's called for dessert?"

"Nobody!"

"Yeah!" A couple students added in and Mimi's blood boiled in anger and jealousy; he was winning them over with issues that didn't matter!

"What about our sports teams? Not enough people show up to their games because we're lacking pep rallies! We're lacking the support they deserve! I want to bring all that school spirit back! We have a whole hallway dedicated to putting up artwork and advertisement of plays for the art department, but what about our sports and school spirit?" This time his eyes were set on Mimi's, as if his rhetoric was dedicated solely to her. "I want to have the school wrapped from head to toe on posters for our teams, for our games and pep rallies, for the stuff that matters." Again he sneered at her, but knew that she wouldn't challenge his words while he held the spotlight.

"I'm talking about pep rallies every other Friday. I'm talking about French fries and pizza for lunch. I'm talking about field trips to watch and support our teams play and _win_ in other schools. So you know the drill, vote for me if you want the same for our school." He gave them all a satisfied smile in response to their applause and went back to his seat, making sure to deliver Mimi a challenging nod before sitting down.

Mimi was enraged at Tai's speech, but simply huffed at his naiveté; Tai was a dimwit if he thought that by being Student Council President he was going to make lunch period a minute longer. She left her desk and stood in front of the class, her heart pounding as her classmates' attention focused on her. Her eyes made contact with Matt's blue orbs and her spirit lifted at the reassuring smile he gave her.

Ahead of her Tai leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms, as if ready to be entertained, and his demeanor angered Mimi all the more. This gave her motivation to stump him in her speech. "I'm sure we're all very moved by Tai's words, I mean who doesn't like chocolate or soda—over even better, chocolate, fries, and soda. But let's be realistic here, it's not the Student Council's job to decide what we get to eat at the cafeteria, that we can blame on the School Board." The smirk she directed at Tai went to waste, for he was already looking down in annoyance—yeah she knew this game better than him.

"But let me tell you what really matters, we need a Student Council that can handle and can think of fun and creative ways to carry our fundraisers, which we truly need for things like spring dances and pep rallies and _prom_. Sure, we can add a couple vending machines every here and there, but what about our last night together? Wouldn't we want it to be like in the movies, in a beautiful hotel with delicious catering and amazing music? What about bringing recognition to all of our other student organizations like the theater group, and the chess club, and the council of ethnic organizations? They also deserve just as much as the soccer and softball teams."

Mimi looked around and was slightly worried at the confused expression on some of her classmates, but continued on nevertheless. "I'm your current Student Council Vice-President and I know how things are run around here. I can bring true improvement to your high school experience and not just unrealistic promises. Vote for me if you care about the quality of our future school events—vote for me if you want a quality President that knows what they're doing, and not just a soccer star."

She smiled prettily at the few claps she received from her classmates and walked over to her desk, making sure to pass by Tai's desk and whisper to him, "You wanted a challenge? Here's your challenge."

**333**

**-T.K.**

T.K. was momentarily distracted as a passerby accidentally knocked one of his brushes to the ground and Kari took the opportunity to take her revenge. A devilish smirk crossed her lips as she quickly drenched her paintbrush in pink paint and made a quick scribble across the lips of T.K.'s painted gentleman. The young teen eventually turned back to his canvas only to realize that his art had been vandalized. "Hey—hey!" T.K. exclaimed in exasperation only to have Kari suddenly burst into giggles.

He proceeded to return the favor, but Kari had already hidden her canvas under their table as she laughed louder and louder at his dilemma. "Kari! Look at him now!" T.K. eventually turned his attention back to his painting, but realized he just couldn't get mad at her.

"He looks like quite the womanizer now—" Kari laughed some more, and again hid her canvas when T.K. tried to paint across it with his blackened brush. Eventually he gave up, and simply nudged her ribs playfully with his elbow.

His touch tickled her and she giggled even harder. "It suits him, you know."

"Oh, why? Because he now looks like he was attacked in the mouth by some lady wearing extravagant lipstick?" T.K. joked as he considered which color to apply over the lips to diminish the effects of her vandalism.

"'Lady wearing extravagant lipstick'? T.K. you're such a nerd!" She mocked him jokingly before nudging his ribs back, and the two leaned closer together as they laughed uncontrollably in unison.

Their spell was broken when their art teacher suddenly came by to their table, exclaiming, "You know guys, this is a classroom, not a _social_room, so at least pretend to be working on something!" They straightened out and their laughs eventually subsided. It was then that the old lady peered over T.K.'s painted gentleman, noting the pink lips, and simply commented, "Hmm, I didn't know you swung that way, T.K."

Kari, the old art teacher, and the other students that shared the art table erupted into warm laughter. T.K.'s cheeks turned twenty shades of red, but in his embarrassment he was unable to defend himself. Their teacher then walked over to supervise a neighboring table, and Kari patted T.K.'s shoulder sympathetically as she added in, "It's okay T.K., you have to come out one way or the other, and coming out through your art is a rather clever way indeed."

T.K.'s left eye twitched in a mixture of amusement and annoyance and he replied simply, "Let's just agree that he was attacked by a lady wearing extravagant lipstick and not that this is me trying to make a statement… _You_ were the one that did this…"

Kari gave him a sweet smile as their eyes locked, and she secretly wished she could reach over and caress his blushing cheeks, but quickly shook the thought away. She suddenly thought of Davis and shuddered involuntarily as she remembered… Friday, was it a date? Or were they simply hanging out as friends? Davis hadn't been very specific on the matter, but she knew that if it were the latter she would have surely rejected the offer. The brunette had been staring at her painting for a while when she felt T.K.'s eyes on her, but when she gazed up he quickly looked away.

Maybe she should ask T.K. to come along, that way it would certainly not be a date, and the fact that she truly treasured the time spent with him was definitely a plus. "Say T.K…. what are you doing this Friday?"

He didn't look up at her as he was busy twiddling with the colors on the gentleman's lips, but replied, "I don't know… homework… video games… the usual?"

"Do you want to come bike riding with me and Davis?"

The puzzled expression on his beautifully blue eyes captivated her. "Bike riding with Davis? When did this come up?"

Kari shrugged a lie and replied, "I guess he's tired of not hanging out with the group… maybe he wants to do something that doesn't involve Tai's and Mimi's bickering."

"Yeah sure, I guess," his teeth shone in the friendly grin he gave her and Kari nearly jumped on her seat in excitement. She turned to her backpack and began rummaging for something, an opportunity that T.K. took advantage of to exert his revenge. He dipped his paintbrush in black ink and quickly painted a tuft of armpit hair on one of the bikini women that Kari had been painting on her canvas. He was nimble enough to put the brush aside by the time Kari turned once again to her painting. It took her a while to realize his mischief, but when she did the whole classroom resonated with the sound of her exclaimed cry.

"T.K.!"

**333**

**-Mimi**

Students bustled to and fro inside the large school theater, busily coordinating the future rehearsals. Techs would stumble every now and then as they prematurely prepared the set for a couple impromptu rehearsals that Mimi had organized. Said girl sat quietly within the empty audience seats as she watched the leads of the play argue amongst each other, for they seemed to really dislike one another, as if they had some sort of off-stage drama she didn't know about. Mimi considered replacements, maybe for one or two of the actors, but decided such an action would introduce even more animosities within the theater group.

Yuu fit beautifully into the character Mimi had pictured in her mind for the play, and so did her opposite, Haku, but they argued and argued like an old married couple at every chance they had. Mimi let out a silent sigh and considered leaving them and going home. She had already dealt with her own daily serving of drama for the day, and felt she just couldn't take any more. Her honey-colored eyes suddenly lit up when she gazed upon the blond-haired teen that walked into the theater and came across the stage with his acoustic guitar and a friend from his band.

Mimi didn't hesitate in leaving her chosen hiding spot and heading over to greet him. Pink lips transformed a frown into a smile as she came upon him, offering him a friendly hug. "Matt, I wasn't expecting you here…" Mimi said breathlessly after greeting his friend.

The boy smiled back and scratched the back of his silky locks as he said, "We wanted to practice today after school, and what the heck might as well practice here since we're going to perform, right?"

She giggled goofily and nodded in agreement. "Well the stage is yours!" She exchanged gazes with the bickering leads, and they turned away from her and Matt, back to pretending that they were rehearsing and not fighting.

"The rest of the guys will be here a little later; they got hung up with some detention unfortunately," Matt chuckled and watched his fellow band member walk over to the piano in the corner. He took a seat on the stage and Mimi settled next to him, and their legs dangled off the stage, often touching as Matt brought his guitar to his lap for some tuning.

She leaned comfortably close to him but felt unable to bring up a conversation. Mimi felt silly, feeling shy around a guy she had known since elementary… Still she focused on the hard pounding of her heart against her chest and the way his jeans would sometimes brush against her bared leg, and was unable to say a word. Matt tried a few notes on his guitar in sync with his band member who had begun fiddling with the notes on the piano and suddenly asked, "What kind of songs are you thinking for the play?"

"I don't know… it's a love story."

Matt looked around the set and eventually added in, "With a punk feel to it." His blue eyes then settled on Yuu and Haku and after a while of silent contemplation asked in a very mild tone, "Did they break up recently, too?"

"What?" Mimi was caught in surprise.

He didn't answer her right away, as if he knew that his next words would wound her ego. "They remind me of you and Tai."

Honey met blue and Mimi felt the blood rushing to her face. Not in the usual angry way it often did, however. Instead she felt ashamed, as if that was now a trademark of her behavior; as if she was a character in a play and her story was that of a wounded ex-girlfriend. His eyes were warm and she was unable to be angry at him, but all the same couldn't word a reply, and so she looked down in shame.

He surprised her with an "I'm sorry."

Her heart swelled, for his words were a melody to her ears, and she set a hand on top of the hand that sat upon his lap. Matt never flinched at her touch, instead his fingers turned over to caress her palm in consolation. Mimi, now feeling slightly bolder than before, leaned her head onto his shoulder with a content sigh, and they remained there sitting together for several long minutes, both immersed in their own thoughts, until the rest of Matt's band members came walking into the theater.

Oblivious to the two Digi-Destined, a certain brown-haired freshman lingered behind the stage curtains, caught in surprise of the intimate setting Mimi and Matt had found themselves in. Kari watched from a distance, weary and confused, and her heart broke at how close Mimi was growing of Matt. It couldn't be a good sign, she knew. She thought of her brother, and she thought of Davis, and of T.K., and of Sora, and suddenly felt like panicking. _It definitely wasn't a good sign, _she decided. The girl peeled her eyes from her fellow Digi-Destined, sighed, and simply retreated backstage; hoping the play would busy her mind from the troubling thoughts that now plagued her.

**333**

**-Tai**

Tai collapsed on one of the many empty bleachers out on the fields and half-mindedly waved goodbye to his fellow team members. They laughed and joked and pushed each other affectionately as they jogged back to the changing rooms, now finished with their routine afterschool practice. Tai simply lay on the bleachers, too annoyed and exhausted to care about anything else. Above him the clouds grumbled, as it threatened to rain, and Tai wished it poured on him, so it would save him the trouble of showering after his practice.

He felt the end of his seat shake and sink considerably and he looked up to see Davis sitting down, just as exhausted as he was. "I don't know if Kari ever told you…" Davis began saying but paused for a slight dramatic effect, though upon noticing that Tai wasn't the least bit interested he continued, "I'm taking her on a date this Friday."

Tai chuckled, and despite of what Mimi might say or what anyone else might think, he was quite protective of his sister, yet felt her to be completely safe in the company of Davis. "Ah, well congrats mate," he wanted to say that they would look good together, but didn't wholeheartedly believe in such a statement. "What are you guys doing?"

"I'm taking her bike riding," Davis' eyes were on the heavens, which had darkened considerably.

Tai suddenly sat up and grinned derisively, laughing a little before saying, "That's your idea of a first date? Taking my sister out on her bike?" He considered giving Davis a slap behind the head, to shake some sense on the poor boy, but noted he was sitting too far and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

"Well what else!" Davis was slightly appalled.

"Oh I don't know… the movies, a nice restaurant, maybe the pier and the amusement park," Tai suggested sarcastically. Davis gave him a little deflated look and Tai immediately felt rotten. He offered Davis a friendly smile, to cheer him up, and added, "You'll be fine."

They remained silent for a few short minutes as their exhaustion wore out, their breathing finally reverting back to its usual relaxed state, and from the corner of their eyes they watched the female soccer team jog back to the locker rooms, also done with their practice. Their gazes settled on Sora for a split second, but she was too preoccupied with her own teammates to notice them, and in the blink of an eye disappeared into the female changing rooms. "You know, you need to speed up your game with Sora—I think Matt might be into her too," Davis commented after a while.

"Are we surrounded by love triangles and love squares now?" Tai asked in cynicism and Davis just shrugged. Their group was suffering, and he knew it, but decided he currently just didn't have the heart—or courage—to try to pick up the pieces. "No way Sora would be into him… he's all about poems and love songs now, isn't he?" He never would have imagined that the dark, rebel boy he knew back in the Digital World would change to become an artist. It was for the better, he supposed. A small droplet from the heavens landed on his nose, which he simply wriggled in discomfort.

"Maybe if you hadn't wasted your time with Mimi, you coulda gotten Sora. I mean, you liked her since the Digital World, didn't you?"

Tai's eyes immediately darkened, but Davis never noticed. Mimi hadn't been a waste of time. He remembered—back then he had been _convinced_ that she was the one. What had happened? His head hurt as he tried to recall memories he had long since fought to forget. It was then that a little, devilish voice in the back of his head began mocking him, _you're just choosing Sora as a second option_, it told him.

Tai grew angry, but couldn't pin-point the root of his frustrations to anything or anyone. He suddenly stood up and stated, "How can I get with Sora if we barely get any time to hang out?"

"It'd be easier if you just pretended to be friends first—"

"We _are _friends," Tai glared at him. Davis was being quite the instigator today.

"I mean, hang out as friend more. You know, Mimi _is_ Sora's best friend. It's Mimi's fault you guys don't get to hang out." Davis chuckled and Tai suddenly realized the horrors of what he was trying to achieve—to date his ex's best friend…

_Never mind that_, the devilish voice in the back of his head told him, _she deserves it for smashing your heart_. "We just need Mimi out of the picture, and the group can hang out as it always did—"

"And you get quality time with Sora—"

"And I get quality time with Sora." Tai smirked in powerlessness—such wishful thinking.

Davis also rose from his seat and wondered grimly aloud, "Why doesn't she just do us a favor and takes a hike to America again?" Suddenly the entire wrath of the clouds above them was unleashed, and heavy droplets of water began to pour over them. Tai and Davis ran for the door to the changing rooms to escape the rain, all the while Tai feeling rotten inside for ever plotting against a Digi-Destined; one of _his _Digi-Destined.

**333**

_Thursday_

**-Tai**

Tai was positively annoyed. He walked in on the halls of Odaiba High Thursday morning and the first thing he saw, the very moment he came in through the main doors, were some ridiculous fliers with Mimi's picture Photoshop'ed to books and a pair of framed reading glasses, captioned, _Mimi is a **bore**, is that what you want as a President? Don't be a bore as well and Vote for Tai Kamiya._ They were everywhere, on every window, nearly on every other locker, attached to every bulletin board.

Tai wasn't sure if he had stepped into a nightmare, or if they were actually doing him a favor. Either way, he snatched at least three of them, and off to the trashcan they went. But as he walked closer and closer to his locker the angrier it made him, for he knew this would completely interfere with, if not ruin, any hopes of exerting his idea.

He had pondered it all night; he truly liked Sora, just not enough to put his feelings out there just yet. It wasn't urgent he declare his crush to her, but it was urgent, as Davis had put it yesterday, that he spent quality time with her. Then he realized that said quality time would only be achievable if he called a truce with Mimi, but as he looked upon the hundreds of negative propaganda against her, he knew it wasn't about to happen.

No one approached him before he got to his locker that morning, and as he walked he either received puzzling looks or shallow words of encouragement from his classmates; they all thought he was behind it all. He noticed people adding their own personal graffiti to some of the flyers, giving Mimi a moustache or some even drawing hearts and announcing their love for their martyr. Either way, it annoyed him to no end.

He gathered his books and had to rummage his locker for his missing pencil when he noticed Mimi standing across the hallway. From the corner of his eye he watched her, unfazed by the propaganda against her, happily chatting with Matt by his locker. How arrogant of her, to ignore him and pretend that nothing was wrong. She had noticed him as well, but Tai hadn't been expecting the cold shoulder he was receiving, instead he had prepared himself for the confrontation that never happened.

Tai noted how she was leaning particularly close to Matt; to him it felt a little too familiar, too intimate. She never again graced him with her gaze, and instead giggled at whatever Matt was telling her. He noticed the way she slightly bit her lip as she smiled and how she tucked a strand of her honey-colored hair behind her ears as she made Matt laugh with her words. Tai knew her mannerisms all too well and he immediately _knew_ what she was doing; Mimi was flirting with Matt, and right in front of him. The whole notion sickened him and Tai made to look away, but realized he just couldn't.

His dark musings were interrupted when T.K. suddenly emerged from the crowd of students and approached his locker, which was three lockers down from Tai's. Tai slammed his locker door shut and quickly rounded on T.K., who had been texting and hadn't noticed him right away. "Yo," Tai made his presence known.

T.K. was slightly startled but greeted him with a smile nevertheless. "Hey Tai…" he paused and finally said, "I'd ask you what's up, but it's everywhere." T.K. motioned to the flyer that was taped to his neighboring locker with a smile.

Tai nonchalantly snatched the flyer off, crumpled it, and simply said, "Not my doing. Anyways, you know anything about _that_?" He eyed Mimi and Matt, who seemed oblivious to T.K.'s and Tai's staring.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on… she's totally flirting with him." T.K. gave him a funny, knowing look and Tai wanted to add in that he absolutely didn't care if she did, but instead said, "Is there something going on between them or what?"

T.K. continued to give him that amused look, and Tai decided he probably deserved it. Soon enough though, T.K. shrugged and answered with sincerity, "Matt hasn't mentioned anything, probably because there is _nothing_ going on… but if you must know… Matt is going to be part of that play, so they're spending quite an amount of time together."

Tai's eyes were still glued on Mimi and her mannerisms disgusted him, for they had once been directed at him. T.K. suddenly closed his locker and gave Tai a pat in the shoulder before saying, "I can't feed you with gossip, just the truth, so I can't say more… gotta go!" And with that, T.K. left Tai standing alone.

The crowd of students was thinning and Tai decided to bolt before they noticed him staring. He wasn't jealous, just annoyed (the devilish voice inside him chuckled derisively in disagreement), and it was then that a little light bulb went off. Despite all the propaganda against Mimi, and despite all the annoying _shit_ that had happened between them lately, not all had been lost. If Mimi liked Matt, that left a window of opportunity for him. He would convince her to make a truce with him, and she would accept, because it was to their convenience to get along enough so that the group can hang out again. That way she could get quality time with Matt, and he could get quality time with Sora. Not only would they both win, but she would also take Matt out of the game, and he wouldn't be a threat to him and Sora at all. The devilish voice whistled in agreement. He was a genius.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Their silly, little revision circle in English class had been set up and Mimi's desk had the misfortune of ending up facing Tai's. Their group members hadn't meant it that way—they were good natured _and _sensible enough to try to separate them as much as possible by sitting in-between them, but it ended up for the worse, for every time Mimi looked up she saw Tai. Any other day Mimi would have been fine with that, but today she just couldn't handle even the sight of him.

The memory of all those pamphlets distributed throughout the school was still fresh in her mind. She remembered walking in to school, happily going over all the new suggestions for her theater group in her mind, when a couple venomous cheerleaders passed by her, throwing a dozen pamphlets in her direction. _Mimi is a **bore**_, it had said. If she didn't know the school better she might have cried and accepted defeat, but Mimi was no fool. The propaganda was stupid enough that she was sure it was all Tai's doing, probably to get back at her for belittling him in her speech.

She then felt his eyes on her.

Mimi pretended to ignore Tai's stare on her as she completed—or attempted to complete—her English essay, but it bothered her to no end. What did he want? Was he just waiting for her to break down in front of him? Well she was about to give him no such pleasure. Sora distracted her musings when she began talking about the assignment, but Tai continued to try to get her attention, and Mimi couldn't properly focus on her best friend's words any longer.

It wasn't until both Sora and Matt got up to ask the teacher a question about the assignment that Tai suddenly slipped a piece of paper on her desk, startling both Izzy and her. She eyed him skeptically before opening the small scrap paper, her heart suddenly pounding very fast. _Hey I have a proposition for you… I've noticed what you're trying to pull with Matt, I want to help you_, it read. Her honey-colored eyes widened at his nerve, he was going to help her? After everything he had done to her? What for? And how did he know she liked Matt?

Tai left her some space under his words for her to reply, but Mimi was too infuriated to do just that. Sora and Matt finally came back to their "revision circle," yet the brunette didn't care if they witnessed her following actions. She glared daggers at Tai as she held up the piece of paper, high enough for all five of them to see, and mercilessly ripped it in half; into fours; into eighths. She gathered the pieces, crumpled them tightly into a small paper ball, and threw it at Tai, hitting him in the chest. The paper bounced off him and landed on the ground.

A tense silence followed her actions, as if all five were afraid to move a muscle while Mimi and Tai had a stare down, until Mimi vehemently pointed out, "Don't litter the ground, Tai."

Fuming, he picked up the paper ball and threw it onto a nearby trashcan without missing.

The remainder of the class period dragged on a little too awkwardly for Mimi's taste, yet she convinced herself that it wasn't her fault, but Tai's for ruining her day with all the stupid flyers. Sora and Izzy kept them entertained enough as they discussed their English project, but when they decided to split the sections and Mimi wanted to talk about an issue that belonged to Tai's part, she found herself growing frustrated at having to address him. She couldn't help it; he _was_ her least favorite person in the school after all—her least favorite person in the _world_, possibly…

They ended their revision when the bell to leave rang, and as usual Mimi lingered a little longer as she took the time to gather her things. She was so caught up in trying to stay out of her classmates' way as they walked past her though, that she didn't notice someone else linger alongside her. Mimi wasn't paying much heed of where she was going while she walked out of the classroom and was slightly startled when someone grabbed her wrist and made her stop dead in her tracks.

She spun around and her cheeks flushed red when she saw Tai holding her wrist. Mimi yanked her arm free from his grip and hissed, her temper rising, "_What do you want, Tai_?"

"You would have known by now if you hadn't been childish and tore up my paper!" His temper also ignited to match hers. Getting her to agree was going to be a lot harder than he had imagined, it would seem.

Mimi remembered his words about Matt and she hated him all the more. "Look Tai, I don't know what you're planning or_ care_ _about _what you want, so do me a favor and stay out of my way or else I might follow your example and let the school know what a little manwhore you are."

The smirk upon her face disintegrated the moment Tai stepped dangerously closer to her, his demeanor hurt and angered. "I had nothing to do with the flyers. And you know better than to lie to your _beloved_ voters."

"Is this some kind of joke to you Tai? Are you running against me and giving stupid little speeches and distributing ridiculous flyers just to piss me off? I actually want to help the school out! Unlike you, I care about being President!" Her tone elevated considerably and Mimi had to force herself to calm down as she watched the curious students that slowed down while they passed to witness their argument.

_How typical of her to assume that she knew everything about everyone, _he thought_._ His eyes had narrowed, but instead Tai chose to avoid further confrontation with her, so that he could somehow get her to agree with his idea. He extended his arm and made to place his hand on her shoulder when he sensed she was about to continue with her rant, but stopped himself at the last moment. "Just listen to what I have to say," he would have added a 'please,' but decided she didn't even deserve that from him.

Mimi crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the tiled floor irritably while she waited for him.

"Look, I don't care what you want with Matt, but know this, you won't be able to spend much time with him—with the group—if all we do is fight and fight and fight—"

She huffed in annoyance, but deep down knew Tai was speaking the truth.

"Let's face it; they all know it, _we_ know it. So, let's make a truce and _pretend_ that we actually don't mind sharing the same air." He let out a little fake chuckle and finished, "And you can spend all the quality time you need with Matt."

The glare she had on him intensified when she asked, "And pray tell, why would you care if I spent time with Matt or not."

"Oh trust me, I don't. I do, however, care about spending time with Sora, and hopefully do what I never had the courage to do before."

Mimi didn't have to ask twice what he meant, and gulped hard as he mercilessly shredded her scarred heart even more. She felt hot tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes and immediately retorted back as vehemently as possible, "There's just one tiny flaw in your plan Tai Kamiya; you've forgotten that I hate you. Why on Earth would I want to work out a truce with you?"

She walked away from him before he could word a reply, terrified that he would witness her tears—no, she would never grant him that pleasure. "Oh come on! It's to your convenience as well!" She heard him yell after her, but never stopped in her flurry to her next class, simply hoping that no one would notice the unusual gloss in her eyes.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	3. A Tactless Truth or Dare

**_A Tactless Truth or Dare_**

_Thursday_

**-Tai**

With a sigh Tai pushed open the see-through doors that led to the library and wrinkled his nose at the unfamiliar smell of the carpet and of the hundreds of books kept inside. He made a little detour towards the offices, where secretaries and the librarian went about their business, and made a stop outside an old, wooden door that stood at the far end of the hallway. For a few moments he had doubted he was going to the right place, but the metal plate upon the door that read _Student Council_ filled him with reassurance.

Tai knocked twice and walked in without waiting for a reply. The musky smell that filled the library was intensified in the small, windowless room, and for a second Tai had to pause for the sneeze that never came. The room was decorated with colorful, flowery posters (courtesy of Mimi no doubt) and several banners for the school's sport teams. A big, wooden table was centered close to the door, and several mismatched lounge chairs were set at the far end of the room.

Joe had been erasing something from the whiteboard in the corner when Tai walked in. His slight surprise was replaced by a smile, and he motioned his friend to sit with him in the wooden table. "Hey Tai, surprised to see you around these parts."

"Trust me, you're not as surprised as I am," Tai said with a chuckle as Joe pointed him to several forms that were set on the table. "Miserable little place the student council gets, huh?" Tai commented as he fished for a pencil in his backpack.

"Finally somebody agrees! I've been asking for a new room for half a year, and all they do is keep sending in more chairs." It was true, the place was a little cluttered and in an obvious need of relocating. "But if you win the elections, you'll be spending most of your extracurricular time in here, my friend."

"Yeah hopefully they give us a new room before then," and the two laughed.

Tai came to visit his future "office" if he won Student Council President, and realized that Joe had plenty of paperwork ready for him to fill in. It almost felt like an ambush, but reluctantly decided to get it done. Tai had to fill in two forms, a questionnaire, and a form that nominated his Vice-President. At that point his writing hand hesitated for a moment, until he quickly scribbled down the name and watched as Joe's eyes almost popped out of its sockets. "Mimi?" Joe blurted out, unable to stop himself.

Tai exhaled loudly, already expecting such a response. "Yeah… Mimi," he finally said.

"Why? Don't you guys hate each other?" He watched as Tai finished filling in and signing the form. His mind spun and Joe abruptly stated, "Tai, if this is some kind of prank—I won't let—"

"It's not." Tai's eyes darkened, but a sudden feeling of happiness filled him as he realized just how good his friends were—here was Joe, ready to challenge him and defend Mimi if he ever tried anything against her.

"Then…"

"Mimi is going to be majorly pissed if she loses the elections. Consolation price maybe?" Tai simply shrugged.

"Then why run against her?" Joe's black eyes stared at him for a long while, and Tai found he just couldn't find the words to describe his reasons.

Why was he running against her? "Maybe I just want to teach the spoiled princess a lesson; that she can't always win at everything…"

Joe gave him a knowing look and, once he realized that Tai wasn't about to add anything else in defense to his cause, said, "You didn't want to break up with her, did you?"

If Tai had been drinking anything, he would have spilt it all out. "What!"

"It's true, isn't it?"

"Don't make this about our break up," Tai warned him, his eyes now on the Vice-President form. The devilish voice inside him told him to shred it, to fill in a new one, but he shook the thought away. What was done was done.

"Then what is it about?" Joe's question lingered a little longer than he would have preferred, and again Tai found himself unable to word an answer.

Tai avoided Joe's stare as he finally admitted, "There was no closure between us… We just broke up and that was that." He chuckled in resignation and added in, "Now the only interaction we ever get is when we fight—"

"And fighting is better than nothing at all." Joe was older and wiser, he too had had girlfriends and ex-girlfriends, and he could easily understand Tai's reasoning. "Don't worry Tai; everything will be alright in the end… so if it's not alright, it's not yet the end."

He gave Tai a pat in the shoulder and Tai simply gathered his backpack and left his seat. He thought of Mimi, then thought of Sora, and for a second was troubled that he wasn't quite sure who he wanted the most. Tai made for the door, chuckled cynically as he waved goodbye and said, "Question is, when will it be the end?"

That Joe did not know.

**333**

_Friday_

**-Mimi**

Honey eyes stared down at a mass of beige that looked like it could come alive at any moment. Her mashed potatoes looked extra gooey and let out a smell reminiscent of sweaty tennis shoes. Sora soon joined her in the table, yet the Love-Crest holder wasn't carrying a tray with the daily school lunch, instead she carried a Ziploc bag filled with baby tomatoes, broccoli, and baby carrots. She was followed by a younger girl with long brown hair that was initially ignored.

"Sora to the rescue!" Mimi exclaimed as Sora sat down and pulled out a family-sized bag of potato chips from her backpack.

Matt and Yolei scooted closer to Sora and Mimi with evil smirks upon their lips, and Mimi immediately said, "Sora! Hungry zombie alert!"

"Come on guys… there's enough for all of us…" Sora leaned back on the chair. Her companion sat timidly next to her, and once Sora noticed their attentions on the food instead of on her friend, she coughed to make the announcement, "Guys, this is Lina, she transferred to Odaiba High a week ago."

The girl blushed and waved now that she was the focus of their stares. "Hi, all," Lina whispered quietly.

"Lina, they're Matt, Yolei, and Mimi." Sora motioned towards her friends.

"Where'd you transfer from?"

"You're a freshman, right? I've seen you in my class—"

"You brought _real_ food, too, right? Not cafeteria food—"

Lina's pretty brown eyes lit up and her cheeks blushed after being bombarded with questions by the teens. She took a deep breath to sooth her nerves and answered, "I transferred from St. Agatha's Catholic School, it's not too far from here, and yes I'm in the ninth grade."

"And no, Lina didn't bring any lunch so you guys have to share," Sora added in after her, as usual taking the role of arbitrator and Mother Duck within the group. She patiently opened the potato chips bag, took a single chip into her lips, and offered them the opened bag.

Yolei immediately snatched the chips away and began munching loudly.

"Fatass," Matt whispered in resignation from the other side of the table with a wide smirk on his lips, seeing how he was the farthest away from the potato chips.

"What was that? Matt wants to be a health junkie? Pass him the carrots then!" Yolei joked as she tossed the Ziploc bag in Matt's direction while keeping the chips hostage.

Mimi was quick and snatched the bag away, making Matt pout playfully and say, "Fine, I'll just eat the alien mashed potato and become a mutant myself."

"Alright, Spiderman," Mimi mocked him jokingly.

Sora was the one to come to his rescue, snatching the potato chips from Yolei and passing them towards Matt's side of the table. Matt eagerly opened the bag and pretended he had been starving for days, stuffing his mouth with handful of chips at a time—much to Yolei's dismay—and the four of them couldn't help but burst out laughing. They offered some to Lina, who accepted it gratefully and from then on happily shared the food Sora had brought, making small talk while they passed the vegetables and the potatoes around.

Eventually their conversation shifted to a television show Mimi was unfamiliar with, and her thoughts drifted away from the table. Mimi distractedly glanced over at a table at the far end of the cafeteria where Izzy and his girlfriend, a pretty blonde that never quite tried making friends with them, ate together. She observed their mannerism for a while, and her gaze shifted to a different table, where Kari, Cody, and a couple other freshmen also sat together. She then thought of Tai, whom she was sure also had this same lunch period, but was nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria.

Everyone had split… months ago they would all eat together, share memories together, but now they were slowly but surely drifting away. She knew why, and it hurt to admit it. Tai's words reverberated inside her; _they all know it, we know it. _And it was only fair that if she caused the group to break, then she should be the one responsible for picking up the pieces. She thought of Matt, and how in his eyes she was probably just a bitter ex-girlfriend that couldn't get her things straight.

She sighed loudly, inadvertently drawing Sora's attention. Mimi missed her friends—maybe Tai was right; it was time to make a truce. "What's up?" Sora brought her back from her reverie; her insightful best friend never missed a thing.

"We should all hang out this weekend," Mimi said quietly, inwardly still questioning such a statement.

"Ok… what do you have on mind—"

"I mean, all of us, we should _all _hang out, like we used to." Mimi now had Matt's attention, and was surprised to see him light up at her words.

"Yeah… we should…" He murmured in agreement, his blue eyes on Sora.

Sora was the sensible one in the table; therefore she was the first to put her foot down. "Mimi, you and Tai can't stand each other… and it wouldn't be fair for all of us to hang out and exclude him."

"Who said we'd be excluding him?" Mimi gave her a charming smile, hoping to buy her with a smile instead of words, but Sora wasn't about to yield. Sora gave her a look, and Mimi was sure she was thinking about what happened last in English period. The brunette quickly added in with a lie, "We talked, after English, and we've agreed to disagree. We're leaving the past behind."

Sora was inspecting her face, and Mimi knew she could see right through her lie, until suddenly Yolei added in, "Wow that's awesome! We should! I miss the good old times."

Before Sora could object even more, Mimi asked, "Where does Tai eat lunch nowadays?"

"The gym," Matt replied as he munched on the potato chips.

Mimi suddenly gathered her things and rose from her seat. "Come on Sora, give us a chance…" Mimi offered her a pretty smile that was almost contagious. Sora eventually gave her a smile and a nod and Mimi sighed happily… now it would be her turn to plead Tai to cooperate.

She quickly left the cafeteria, fearing the bell would be ringing soon. Her heart was gnawing at her, screaming her to turn back and avoid Tai at all costs, else he break her again. But her mind was set, she couldn't be selfish, this was something she had to face, and the sooner, the better.

Mimi chewed on her lip painfully; she just hoped Tai's offer was still available.

**333**

**-Tai**

Tai eyed the ham and cheese and mayo sandwich, or rather, what was left of the sandwich and finally brought it up to his eager mouth, chewing soundly and happily. As usual, his lunch had been amazing (courtesy of his sister), and he just wished he could have more. Maybe if he hadn't eaten so quickly he wouldn't have been so damn hungry still. His musings about food were interrupted when somebody suddenly nudged him in the ribs painfully, and he nearly jumped, ready to retaliate, when his eyes spotted a familiar figure walking towards the bleachers.

"Hey look Tai, it's Mrs. Boring!" One of his teammates hollered, and the few cheerleaders that kept them company laughed loudly as they pointed.

Mimi Tachikawa watched them from a distance, and he could tell in her hesitation that she was considering whether to approach him or walk away. He exchanged a glance with Davis, who was sitting at the end of the bleachers, and the boy simply shrugged. _No_, she was about to turn away, and the jeering of his teammates wasn't helping either. "Lay off guys," Tai left his sitting spot, tossed his trash onto a nearby trashcan, and quickly ran towards Mimi, who was in the process of turning away.

She must have known that he was going to follow her, for as soon as they were out of earshot of his teammates, she quickly told him, "Alright Tai, are you still serious about this truce?"

For a second he was caught in surprise. He was expecting her to chastise him for whatever else he had done, or even begin their "conversation" with a speech of why she was so much better than him, but never to jump right in to the point. He didn't have to be reminded either, he knew what she was talking about.

"What do you mean if I'm still serious? Of course I am." He tried looking straight into her honey-colored eyes, but she was avoiding his gaze, staring at anything but him.

"Alright then. Fine. Just… I still hate you, this doesn't change anything—"

"You're telling me?" Tai rolled his eyes, but his sarcasm went to waste, since her eyes were on the bleachers, where the soccer players and the cheerleaders continued to jeer.

"Remember, we're just pretending we don't mind sharing the same air._ Pretending_. Because frankly, I do mind." He could tell by the way she shifted her feet that she was uncomfortable speaking to him in private; this frustrated him—angered him even—he couldn't tell which.

"Yeah—"

"Good." She was as brusque as possible, and now that they reached an agreement she swiftly turned to leave, not bothering to utter a goodbye.

Suddenly—he didn't know what made him do it—Tai took hold of her wrist once again, in a desperate attempt to stop her from walking away. Mimi nearly flinched when she stopped, and slowly turned to face him, her pretty gaze directed at the point where their skins touched. Finally she graced him with her eyes and honey met brown. The girl gently tugged on her arm and Tai obediently released his grip.

He was captive of her gaze for what seemed like an eternity, yet he couldn't quite find something to say, to keep her here, around him. "I didn't have anything to do with those flyers." Tai felt lame, he could have said _anything_, and this is all he could muster?

Her demeanor betrayed hurt and confusion, but she never said anything more. She slowly shook her head, dismissing him, and quickly turned on her heels again and out of his reach before he could react, leaving him standing alone.

**333**

**-Kari**

"Davis is here! I'll be back later!" Kari announced to the living room as she searched for her house keys, but knew she might as well be talking to the wall, for Tai was so focused on the soccer match in the television that they could have an earthquake and he wouldn't notice. She found the keys misplaced next to their house phone, and made a mad dash towards the door. From the kitchen window she could see Davis pulling in to the apartment complex's parking lot with his bike, his dark brown hair flowing wildly against the wind. Kari adjusted her running shoes one last time and finally stepped out of the apartment.

In her pocket her cell phone suddenly vibrated with a text message, distracting her for a second. "_So did you decide which bike trail we are going to?_" It was T.K., and with a smile she quickly smashed with her thumbs a reply. She got into the elevator and pressed the button down for the lobby. Then a thought occurred her, she had never told Davis that T.K. would be coming, how would he react to that?

Before she had much time to worry about it, Kari ran into Davis as she stepped out the elevator. He hadn't been paying much attention as he made to get in, and Kari almost had to dodge him else they run into each other again.

"Kari!" Davis exclaimed breathlessly in surprise.

"Hey you," Kari greeted him as she leaned slightly forward with her hands behind her back, in her signature manner.

"Are you ready?" He quickly regained composure and followed right behind her.

They exchanged small talk as Kari readied her bike—which she hadn't used in quite a while—and in a matter of minutes were heading out to the outskirts of the city. The delicious feeling of the wind against her skin and hair kept her entertained for the majority of their ride, making Kari inwardly wonder why she didn't ride more often. She was momentarily grateful at Davis for his idea, yet noted that he was acting particularly bashful, which wasn't like him at all.

The bay glistened in the distance, and a refreshing sea breeze welcomed them when they arrived at the bike trail along the coast. Joggers and bikers sped back and forth within the sidewalk and into the bike trail, while families gathered by the picnic areas, basking under the welcoming spring weather. Eventually Kari and Davis lowered their pace at the curve that marked the entrance of the trail, when Kari's phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket. But before she could stop and answer, a familiar voice called out from behind them.

"Oi! Took you both long enough!" T.K. called out from his sitting spot under a nearby tree; the cell phone he had used to call Kari still in his hands.

"What—" Davis suddenly whipped around to stare at T.K., his eyes clouded with confusion.

"Hey T.K.! Well come on!" Kari quickly invited him over, trying to appear as natural as possible.

"What are you doing here?" Davis' apathetic tone took Kari by surprise, as if he was trying to suppress a juggernaut of emotions.

T.K. was approaching them with his bike when he stopped to answer in confusion, "We're bike riding… right?"

"Yeah!" Kari quickly chirped in to explain, afraid of what the boys—afraid of what Davis—might think. "I figured I'd invite T.K., too, it'll be fun," she offered Davis a smile, and inwardly assured herself that this wasn't a date, so she was not at fault. Who goes out bike riding as a date anyways? This couldn't have been one.

Davis unexpectedly let out a hearty laugh and scratched the back of his head. He turned his back on them and took hold of his bike, so Kari was unable to look into his eyes when he said, "Yeah! That's cool!"

T.K., however, was intuitive enough to pick up on the exchange, and he gave Kari a little inquiring look, which the girl decidedly ignored as she mounted her bike and led the way into the trail. They rode in silence, with Davis leading the way and Kari and T.K. riding side by side. Again, Kari noted just how silent Davis was behaving. T.K. would bring up a brief exchange of words, and not once did Davis contribute to their small conversations. This was when Kari knew something was wrong.

"Davis, I have to admit, this was actually a great idea," Kari smiled as her hair was buffeted by the wind. Even as she praised him though, he remained quiet.

"Imagine if the rest also came; the whole bike trail would become overcrowded with the Digi-Destined in bikes," T.K. joked aloud.

"Hah! The disgruntled citizens of Odaiba would complain that this isn't a private trail for annoying teenagers—" Kari contributed.

"Nah, it would almost be a field trip!" the blonde added in.

Their laughter resonated in unison, and a little pain shot through Kari when she realized Davis' laughter never joined in. He continued to ride ahead, and no matter how hard Kari pedaled to catch up to him, Davis would just paddle even harder as well. Kari was only left with falling into pace with T.K.

It was her fault, she decided, and so she would be the one to fix it.

"Davis… what's wrong?" Kari fought with all her might to pedal her bike faster, getting slightly closer to Davis.

"—Nothing," Davis gave her a fake, cursory smile that Kari could see straight through.

His reply angered her, and she only pedaled faster, falling into pace with him. "Come on Davis, you know I will understand… why can't you just tell me what you're feeling?" At this point Kari had stopped paying much attention to trail and had focused her attention on him.

Davis tsk'ed, and in a burst of annoyance blurted out, "I'm trying to tell you how I feel!"

He waved his arm out in exasperation, catching Kari by surprise and making her steer away from him. She was so caught up in avoiding his moving arm that she didn't notice her bike wheel slowly veering off from the concrete trail. Her front wheel suddenly transitioned from the trail into the grass, and the contact of the wheel rapidly rolling against the edge of the concrete made Kari lose complete control on her bike. Kari yelped in surprise and felt her body roll forward off the bike as it came to a stop. Her elbows painfully cushioned her blow right before her head landed on the grass. By the time it was all over, Kari had grass leaves sticking into her mouth.

"Kari!" T.K. was the first to jump to her aid, throwing his bike aside and kneeling close to her.

Davis drove a little ways head before he noticed their blunder. He also tossed himself next to her, a terrified expression upon his face. "Kari! I'm so sorry!"

Kari was in too much pain to reassure him that it was alright; for now, all she wanted was to be cradled. T.K. lifted her into his lap and gently brushed her hair away. "Dude, what the hell was that?" T.K. questioned him in a mixture of aggravation and annoyance.

"I'm sorry! Here—" Davis made to lift her arm from her awkward position, but her elbow was so bruised she instead yelped and pulled away.

"Davis!" T.K. slapped his hand away as an instinctive reaction, gaining him a scowl from the brown haired boy.

They glared at each other for a split second, until Davis suddenly blurted out and made to stand up, "Fine! I'll just leave! Everything I do—I just hurt you!"

He was in the process of standing up when Kari, despite her pain, stuck out her arm and took hold of his wrist before saying, "No, don't go. Stay please."

Their eyes met and Davis' expression immediately softened. He knelt next to her, and together with T.K. helped her sit up. They brushed the grass off her hair and her clothes, helping her inspect her arms and legs to see if she had scraped and bled. In a couple of minutes, however, Kari felt most of her pain subside.

She sat under a nearby tree while T.K. and Davis gathered the bikes and neatly set them on the ground around her. By now the sun had begun to set, and the three sat together under that same tree, their eyes facing the reflection of the round sun over the bay. It was then that Kari had a fleeting sensation. She felt the luckiest girl in the world, having these two boys give her their undivided attention. But she couldn't have both—she didn't _want_ both, and telling them just that, well, would break her heart.

**333**

**-Davis**

A blanket of starless black covered the sky as night fell. The quiet of the empty parking lot was disturbed when a lonely figure kicked an unsuspecting trashcan in bouts of hurt and exasperation. Davis grumbled words in annoyance after depositing his bike within the bike racks and quickly sped into his apartment building, all too eager on letting this day just _end_.

Their exchange at the bike trail had left him with a bad taste in his mouth. He was utterly pissed, and his heart felt ready to shred open. All this time he had pictured him and Kari together, alone, bike riding and eventually settling down to watch the dying sun over the bay. Davis chuckled cynically; she probably had thought the complete opposite, a regular Friday outing with him and their friends.

His house was quite when he arrived, and he was half expecting his sister to jump him with questions about his "date." He quietly snuck inside his bedroom and, with the lights still off, threw himself over his bed.

Maybe it had been his fault; maybe he should have made it clearer that it had been a date… he just didn't imagine anybody else showing up. But if he had been clearer, would she still have said yes? Davis wasn't sure he was ready to find out; at least not just yet.

His room was suddenly illuminated when a small device on his desk turned bright white, a distant vibration following. Davis rose from his miserable position after a little while and walked over to his desk in curiosity. He had been too late; by the time he reached his phone the buzzing had stopped. Tai had been calling him.

Davis grumbled in annoyance and decided he just didn't feel like returning the call. In a moment of distraction his hand brushed against his computer mouse, awakening his computer, and the screen of his desktop also lit up, nearly blinding him. When he recovered he noticed chat messages from both Tai and Ken, asking him several times if he wanted to join them in a soccer match. This annoyed him; didn't Tai know he was out on a "date" with Kari?

Suddenly his phone buzzed again, and Davis momentarily glared at it while he decided whether to answer Tai or not. "Yeah?" He answered after finally making up his mind.

"Yo Davis, where you been? I called you several times to see if you wanted to join our soccer game." Tai was talking fast, and there was a lot of noise in the background.

"Well are you still playing or something? It's eight o' clock." Davis responded irritably.

"Nah man, I was just checking on you. Thought you were mad or something, since you weren't picking up."

_How would he know?_ "I left my phone home… today was my date with Kari, remember?"

"Oh!—" There was a pause while Tai talked to somebody on his side of the receiver. Eventually the noises in the background died down, as if he had walked away from the hubbub. "That's right! So_ that's_ where Kari had gone. She totally left without saying nothing. Anyways how was that?"

"T.K. showed up," was all Davis said, and Tai was silent for a while.

"What do you mean T.K. showed up?" His tone was slightly darker and Davis could tell he was quickly putting pieces together.

"That's it. He showed up as if we were all hanging out together." When Tai didn't say anything, Davis added in, "It was no date."

"Tai?" Davis finally asked as Tai's silence dragged on.

"Mimi probably tipped him off. I'd put my money on it. She probably told him you two were hanging out and told him to come too." Tai's words were quick, as if following an unfiltered train of thought.

"What?" Davis was flabbergasted. How did Mimi ever come into this equation?

"Dude she'd do it just to spite me. Because she knows I like you, and she probably thinks she gets a say on whom Kari dates. Come on you _know_ her. This is just something she would do. I bet she's trying to set T.K. and Kari up just to get under our skins."

His aching heart slowly bought every word Tai muttered. Davis didn't have anything against T.K., but Mimi's feud with Tai had spread in their group like a venomous poison, also affecting him. It was then that Davis' heart clouded in anger. He wanted to curse aloud and call her names, but Tai had begun talking again.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Tai murmured quietly in resignation.

"What do you mean?"

"Well Mimi and I called a truce," Tai replied after a while, and Davis remembered their conversation back in the soccer field bleachers. "By the way, I don't know if you know, but we're all hanging out tomorrow. Going to the movies and then heading over to Matt's house, since his dad is out of town. Remember? Quality time with Sora?"

"Right."

"And don't worry about today. We'll repay Mimi the favor and tomorrow you can hang with Kari."

Davis, noticing their conversation slowly ending, went over to his bed once again, and slumped himself onto it in the same miserable position as before. Just because today had been a fiasco didn't mean all was lost. Kari didn't officially like anybody… he still had a chance. He thought of Mimi and his mood darkened. How was it any of her business who Kari went out with?

"Aight Davis. See ya tomorrow. Don't bail or it'll be just me against Mimi."

_Yikes_. "'Kay, thanks Tai. Talk to you tomorrow."

**333**

_Saturday_

**-T.K.**

Matt yawned loudly beside him while they waited by the dusty, concrete sidewalk for someone to open the outside theater doors. It was mid-morning, yet the sun was beaming down on them as if it was a sunny summer afternoon. T.K. shifted his legs irritably back and forth as he stood in front of the rusty door, small beads of sweat forming on his neck and back.

"It's hot," Matt grumbled the obvious irritably, and T.K. was left to roll his eyes at him.

"Why am I even here?" T.K. wondered aloud, waving his hand at his neck like a fan.

"Yeah, why are you?"

They momentarily glared at each other; it seemed that the heat had made the brothers particularly choleric, their moods clashing for a split second. The sound of someone approaching from inside the building captured their attentions, and suddenly the door was swung open. Cold air rushed through the opened door, welcoming them, and Mimi emerged from the building. Her hair was slightly ruffled and her cheeks flushed, yet she jumped T.K. and Matt with a hug. "Sorry guys! There's so much noise inside we could barely hear the knock on this door."

They quickly followed her in to the dark hallway, feeling the air-conditioning submerging their sweaty bodies. "Why'd you take this door, though?" Mimi finally asked as they approached the noisy theater backstage.

"Isn't the school closed? And the only way in to the theater is through here?" Matt asked in a little voice.

"No! You can come in from the front doors!" Mimi giggled and T.K. just glared at his clueless brother.

Their conversation was drowned by the loud noises in the theater when they finally emerged from the hallway. Several students were playing instruments at the same time, while others carried pieces of the set—trees, street lamps, chairs—and others exchanged conversations while rehearsing onstage. "Welcome to my production," Mimi giggled proudly after they took in the scene.

"Is it like this every Saturday?" T.K. asked in sheer surprise.

"Only now, since the play is only weeks away. Wait—why are you here?" Mimi asked suddenly.

"Yeah—" Matt gave him a look.

"I was just curious!"

Mimi's giggles saved him from further questioning and she finally told him, "It's cool. Make yourself at home…" Her honey eyes then settled on Matt before she dragged him towards the stage, saying, "Now you—you and your band are late!"

T.K. stood rooted awkwardly to the spot for a couple seconds longer. He scanned the theater group, hoping to see a familiar face. They were mostly juniors and seniors though, so he could barely recognize anybody. Nevertheless he remained hopeful, for he knew that Kari was also part of the theater group; she _had_ to be here, right?

His musings continued while he walked within the empty audience seats, his blue orbs still concentrated on the students rushing back and forth onstage. His feet eventually took him to the other side of the stage and he nearly jumped in surprise when he felt a lithe hand rest on his shoulder behind him. He whipped around and his blue eyes softened at the sight of the small brunette before him.

"Kari," T.K. whispered breathlessly.

"T.K., what a surprise seeing you here…" Her hands were full with three different pieces of raggedy clothes, which he assumed were part of the costumes.

T.K. shrugged, "I was bored, so I decided to come by and see how you guys act." He followed her past an opened door and into the dressing room, where she hung the clothes on a clothing rack.

Kari offered him a pretty smile before replying, "I'm not acting in this play…" They walked back outside of the dressing room, back to where the noise was most concentrated.

T.K. boldly lifted up her arm to get a better look at bruised elbow before saying, "How are you feeling?"

Her smiling face never faltered, "It wasn't that bad. I'm alright."

There was a small pause that T.K. utilized to ponder on his next question. A small crowd of students walked past them, and to avoid being trampled T.K. led Kari over to the stage, where they sat with their feet dangling over the edge. "Say Kari, what was that all about? Yesterday?"

Her eyes searched his, and when she didn't reply he elaborated, "Davis seemed pretty surprised when he saw me there…"

Kari blushed and looked away. Her mannerisms and Davis' actions didn't fool him though, he knew something was up. "Well I kinda just invited you without telling Davis. I mean, I know that shouldn't be a big deal, but…" Kari finally explained.

"That wasn't exactly _just hanging out_, right—"

Kari was immensely grateful T.K. was insightful enough to help her explain. At least she wouldn't have to worry about tripping with her own words; T.K. truly understood her. "I don't know if that was supposed to be a date or not. I mean the way he asked me made me feel like it was, but he was never straightforward about it." She paused, as if to gather her train of thought, when she felt T.K.'s hand slightly brush hers. This encouraged her to continue on, "Honestly, I don't want to date Davis. And I'm just terrified that he might ask me, because I don't want to hurt his feelings." There, she'd said it. A small exhale escaped her rosy lips; it felt incredibly relieving to share that weigh with someone else. She knew T.K. would understand.

"You know, if you were afraid it was going to be a date you should have just said no." He knew Kari was in a difficult spot, but he also thought about Davis' feelings towards the situation. Her eyes widened when she also realized this, and to appease her expression he happily told her, "I'm glad you invited _me_, though." The fact that she trusted him enough to share this with him and not anybody else must mean something, right?

Again, a busy hubbub of teens passed behind them—with Mimi yelling out instructions that no one paid attention to. The group of students carried heavy drapes that considerably diminished their line of sight. T.K. noticed a couple of them half-mindedly walking a little too close to them, and realized that if Kari didn't move they would surely trample her. He suddenly brought her close to him, almost in an embrace, taking the short girl by surprise.

Her face flushed twenty shades of red before seeing the students stepping right where she had been sitting merely moments ago. Kari then leaned her forehead on his chest and, with her head pressed against his shirt, smiled gratefully. T.K. had, once again, come in to her rescue. She felt his heart pumping hard against his chest, almost as fast as hers. And he held there, safely within his embrace, even after the crowd of students had cleared.

**333**

**-Tai**

The sight before him seemed almost surreal. All twelve Digi-Destined, including himself, walked together, side by side, joking and cheering and talking, like they had done so nearly half a year ago. It surprised him, as if he was simply daydreaming of an old memory or having déjà vu. Yet here they were, united again. He felt truly content; his group was back together, even if for only just this once.

They paced the Odaiba sidewalks, on their way from the local movie theater back to Matt's apartment. Davis and Ken happily chatted as they led the way, with Yolei and Sora and Matt laughing about a recent joke behind them. Izzy and Cody trailed right behind; both engaged in a conversation that he was sure pertained to the Digital World. Joe followed their steps, not even watching where he was going while exchanging a few words with T.K. and Kari. And Mimi was slowly lagging behind them, her eyes and fingers too preoccupied with a text message on her phone to pay much heed to the fact that she was slowly falling out of pace with the group.

They crossed yet another intersection and Tai was too busy reminiscing about the good old times to notice Mimi stopping suddenly. He nearly tackled her by accident the moment she stopped right in front of him, and Tai instinctively held her frame else she fall on the sidewalk. "Watch where you're going," he told her brusquely, annoyed that her phone kept her distracted from doing just that.

"Oh—sorry," she didn't even take her eyes off her phone when she worded her apology, angering him even more.

"Shoulda just let you trip," Tai murmured under his breath as he walked past her. He felt her glare on him, yet continued onwards. The teens in front of them never noticed their exchange as they walked.

"Yeah why didn't you?" Suddenly Mimi caught up to him.

Her words ignited his anger and he suddenly remembered the incident at Davis' date. Tai stopped, rounding on her and quite abruptly telling her, "What exactly are you planning, Mimi?"

Her honey eyes widened and she was only left to say, "What? Planning about what?"

"I know you sent T.K. to Davis' and Kari's date just to spite us," Tai whispered hotly, making sure to allow the rest to obliviously continue on forward, so they wouldn't notice their argument.

"I did no such thing! And since when are they dating?" Her voice had attained an unpleasant pitch; a little _too_ loud for Tai's comfort.

"I don't even know why I ask; you're just going to deny everything." Her flabbergasted expression should have given him a hint, yet Tai pressed on, "Just—stop scheming."

"_Scheming_?" Mimi was utterly appalled. "You're accusing me of scheming? You're the one that's running for President just to get under my skin—And don't deny it Tai Kamiya." She poked him painfully on the chest before continuing with her verbal assault, "You're the one that's posting stupid flyers about me all around the school. You're the one that's making truces for personal gain even after doing all this messed up shit to me—And now _I'm_ the bad guy that's sending others to cockblock? Seriously!"

His face burned hot as he was slightly taken aback by her reply, yet didn't hesitate to add in, "How typical of you to blow everything out of proportion! Just to pretend that you're the victim here. Newsflash for you Mimi, everyone, and I mean everyone, is allowed to run for President. How unlucky of you that you pissed me off and made me run against you."

He arched an eyebrow, challenging her further, yet Mimi simply shook her head and tried to walk past him. Tai frowned, brusquely grasped her arm, and finally blurted out what bothered him the most, "Mimi, I already told you I had nothing to do with the flyers, don't take me for a liar."

She yanked her arm away and vehemently finished, "Then take them down."

They glared at each other for several long seconds until they noticed everyone's gazes on them. Tai looked at Matt, Sora, T.K., Davis, and the rest who had their eyes on him, and felt ashamed. Mimi and Tai exchanged one last glance before catching up to their friends, murmuring fake apologies and silently falling into pace.

Tai walked over to the front, next to Davis and Ken. "Dude, what was that all about?" Davis quickly whispered after making sure no one's eyes were on them.

The older teen simply shrugged him off.

In a matter of minutes the Digi-Destined began entering the parking lot that bordered Matt's apartment complex. The sky above had considerably darkened since they left the movie theater, and a chilly breeze enveloped them, forcing them to quickly speed into the elevator inside the building. They huddled together to fit into the elevator at once, laughing in unison when Joe suddenly took them in a huge hug, his long arms barely reaching over a few of them.

Eventually they entered Matt's apartment in high spirits, although Mimi and Tai continued to ignore each other. Matt, T.K., and Kari were the first to claim the television, while Tai and Davis were the first to claim the fridge. The living room became overcrowded and Sora and Cody where left to sit on the floor. And when Joe momentarily stepped out to the balcony to answer a phone call his sitting spot on the couch was promptly taken.

Yolei snuck into the kitchen without Tai or Davis noticing, stealing Davis' recently prepared sandwich when he distractedly turned to the fridge to look for a soda. She stood by the kitchen door while she silently munched on the sandwich.

"Dude," Davis blurted out the moment he noticed his meal gone. He delivered Tai a glare, but Tai's mouth was too full with his own food to word a reply. "You did not just take my sandwich!"

Tai gave him a look but continued to chew. In a burst of annoyance Davis approached Tai and made to open his mouth, making Tai jump away and nearly choke on the food. "What the hell Tai! Make me another one!"

Tai had to double over forward and, with tears in his eyes, had to fight off the violent coughs induced from nearly choking on his food.

Mimi was drawn to the noises in the kitchen, noticing Yolei giggling madly by the door, and her eyes doubled in size when she saw Tai choking to death by the fridge. She rolled her eyes, grabbed the trashcan, grasped his hair, and directed his mouth over the trashcan.

Mimi, Yolei, and Davis could not help but look away as Tai opened his mouth over the trashcan and coughed all of his food out. By now Davis had forgotten all about his missing sandwich and was too busy rolling next to the kitchen counter in laughter. Mimi, too, laughed spitefully at Tai's situation and brusquely let go of his hair, walking over to the fridge for a soda. She then shoved a water bottle in Tai's direction, which he gratefully accepted.

"What the hell! Davis!" Tai exclaimed once he was able to recover.

"You stole my sandwich!" Davis replied in his defense

"I did not!" Tai nearly hollered, his eyes still tearing from the experience.

"I did!" Yolei chirped in, her hand waving what was left of the bitten sandwich before shoving the last piece into her mouth and chewing soundly.

"Seriously!" Tai exclaimed again, his arms flailed in the air.

"Ladies, ladies, don't get your panties in a bunch," Matt joked as he walked in to the kitchen, his goal the sodas in the fridge and oblivious to Tai's blunder.

"I'm bored," Davis suddenly added in with a smirk.

"Bored? You nearly killed me!"

"I think all we need is a good game of truth or dare," Mimi said with a glint in her eyes, her gaze directed at Matt, who had his back to her.

"YES!" Yolei immediately exclaimed.

Matt suddenly whipped around to face them, murmuring, "What—"

"Yeah... a good game of truth or dare," Davis also joined in on the idea, giving Tai a meaningful glance.

"Alright then!" Mimi exclaimed in a sing-song tone as she nearly skipped out of the kitchen. From the kitchen they could hear her yelling to the others, "Truth or dare, who's in?"

After a few objections from Cody and Matt—mostly because of previous unpleasant experiences with the game—the teens gathered in a circle in the living room. They decided to play with one of the empty soda bottles by making it spin in the middle, to add a factor of randomness to the game. Merely ten minutes into the game Izzy and Tai were already shirtless.

Tai had just finished his dare and so he was the one to spin the bottle, which spun painfully slow only to stop on Matt. "Matt, truth or dare?" Tai, Sora, and Ken all asked in unison, much to their surprise.

"Hah—ahem," Matt blushed. "I'll go with truth."

"Boooring," Mimi whispered and smiled prettily, her coy gaze on anywhere but him.

They all looked around for someone to ask a question until eventually Yolei asked, "If you were one of the girls in this room for a day, who would you be and what would you do?"

He pretended to think for a while, until eventually his eyes settled on Sora. "I would be Sora, and umm, I don't know, I would do whatever she does on a regular basis?"

"That means you would take baths and see her goods, right?" Kari giggled beside him.

"What—"

The girls jeered and Matt could only resort to blush. "Alright Matt, your turn!" Mimi saved him from further embarrassment by handing him the bottle.

He spun the bottle, which landed on an unsuspecting Joe. "Joe, truth or dare?" He asked him.

"Ok you kids are playing too nice," Joe laughed and finally finished with, "dare."

"Playing too nice, huh?" Sora pretended to be appalled. She was then the first to say, "Joe, I dare you to go to the restroom and change and go commando for the rest of the night."

His jaw dropped at her request and everyone laughed. He hesitated until Mimi added in, "Go on! You said we were playing too nice!" Joe grumbled a few words and momentarily left them to go change.

While they waited for Joe to come back the teens drifted to side conversations. For a small while Tai pretended to be cold under the air-conditioning without his shirt, capturing Sora's attention. She scooted closer to him, allowing him to lean on her shoulder for additional body heat. For a split second Tai's brown eyes came in contact with Mimi's honeys, and she gave him a brief glare before turning away.

Eventually Joe emerged from the restroom, and the teens hollered and laughed in approval, and the game continued on. The bottle landed on Yolei, who immediately blushed madly as she said dare. Joe was quick to give out his dare, else somebody else had a different idea, "Yolei…" Joe pretended to look around and finally finished, "I dare you to lick your nose with your tongue."

Tai and Davis exchanged an odd look; that was a terrible dare.

"What—" Mimi half pouted half glared.

"But I can't do that," Yolei's disappointment was almost tangible.

Joe pushed his frames up against his eyes, the glasses glinting evilly as he said, "Well in that case, I dare you to lick the nose of someone of your choice."

The room erupted with hollers and laughter and Yolei's cheeks turned scarlet. She then looked around for a split second, debating her options. Davis and Joe laughed wickedly as she left her sitting spot and crawled over to Ken, who also flushed red.

Ken leaned forward and screwed his eyes shut. The room was deathly silent as Yolei's tongue came in contact with his nose, and in a second it was done. Again they all exploded in laughter until she settled back to her spot and spun the bottle.

It was Mimi's turn. "Truth," she said before they could even ask her.

There was a murmur of disappointment in the group, and Cody was the one to ask, "If you could go out on a date with anyone in this room who would it be?"

Mimi was positively embarrassed, and she looked down as she said, "Matt..."

The silence in the room was broken by Yolei's and Kari's giggles. Mimi then summed up the courage to look up, meeting Matt's blue pools before quickly spinning the bottle.

The bottled landed on Sora, and she wanted a dare, but before anyone could suggest anything Davis quickly said, "Sora I dare you to give Tai a smooch. A real smooch." He raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively a couple times and everyone laughed.

Again Tai and Davis exchanged a glance, and Tai immediately vowed to himself to return the favor. His gaze then met with Mimi's, and he realized that just this once he didn't have the courage to maintain eye contact with her. His eyes avoided hers, simply turning to Sora.

Sora sighed and said, "Ok…" She gently grabbed him by the neck and placed her lips onto his. Tai drew himself closer, immersing one hand into her silky, short locks. He kissed her back until Yolei and Davis and Ken exclaimed aloud, "Ooooh."

They pulled away, Sora blushing and Tai taking a deep breath. He looked down at his hands and frowned slightly, a small twinge of disappointment breeding within him. When he looked up he was surprised to see Mimi's eyes on him. She jumped slightly at having been caught staring and looked away. He should be happy, he thought, but he hadn't felt what he expected. It felt like just a kiss, a lip lock, nothing more. Maybe it was because they were surrounded by everyone? He comforted his uncertainties with that thought.

Sora twisted the bottle and they all laughed when it landed on Ken. "Ken, truth or dare?" Five of them said at the same time.

Ken slumped his shoulders and simply said, "Alright… dare."

"Yes." Yolei said aloud, expecting them to laugh loudly and drown out her words. Unfortunately for her though, everybody heard her, including Ken. She blushed deeply and quickly said, "Ken I dare you to eat that piece of Key Lime Pie in the fridge without using your hands." The girl nearly leapt from her sitting spot to the kitchen and in a matter of seconds had brought the last slice of pie.

Ken leaned forward as she held out the plate for him. He bit and licked the pie, one hand leaning on the floor while the other leaned on Yolei's knee for support. The girls watched her with wicked grins and Yolei simply blushed and smiled while Ken finished the slice. By the time he was done he had pie and whipped cream all over his lips, nose, and cheeks.

"You know what, Yolei why don't you help him out and lick that whipped cream off the tip of his nose?" Joe suggested slyly.

"What!"

"Well come on, you're a pro at it." Izzy added in with bouts of laughter.

Ken and Yolei exchanged glances until she quickly lapped the bit of whipped cream off his nose. They laughed as Yolei crawled back to her sitting spot.

Ken spun the bottled, which landed on an unsuspecting Kari. Her cheeks flushed profoundly the moment the bottle head pointed at her, and she gulped heavily as she answered them with, "Dare."

"Bold," Matt admitted.

Everyone held their breath, until suddenly both Mimi and Tai blurted out at the same time, "Kari I dare you to kiss—"

Their exclaimed dare stopped midway as they realized that both had spoken the same thing at the same time. Mimi and Tai leered at each other for a split second but Mimi was the first to recover, quickly saying again, "Kari I dare you to kiss T.K."

Davis went wide-eyed, and Tai could only resort to glare daggers at Mimi's direction. The atmosphere in the room changed, though neither Kari nor T.K. noticed. The lithe girl sat up and knelt in front of T.K. She gave him a pretty smile before closing her eyes and leaning forward. T.K. met her lips halfway, his eyes closing as he brought her closer with one hand. There was instant chemistry and everyone in the room watched wide-eyed as if they were immersed in a romance movie. The two Digi-Destined eventually pulled away, though their gazes never turned away from each other.

If glances could kill—and how Tai wished they could—he was sure he would have murdered Mimi a million times over. Her honey eyes were on T.K. and Kari, but he knew her wicked smile was directed at him and him only. Look at her swear that she had nothing to do with T.K. showing up to Davis' date, yet here she was, salting the wound. His eyes traveled from Mimi to Davis, and the poor boy had a miserable expression upon his face. Did she realize what she was doing? Involving Davis in this vile war against him? Here their group pretended to be united, yet Tai realized that his plan might only split them even more.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	4. Jet

**_Jet_**

_Monday_

**-Mimi**

With a brief flash of colors the desktop monitor turned black for a split second then turned on again. The screen displayed back in full screen the mirror image of a honey-haired teenager as it waited to make connection to the Digital World, an opportunity Mimi utilized to quickly check on her hair and face and make sure it was presentable enough. Mimi stared at herself for a couple seconds, growing self-conscious with the passing of time, until eventually the web camera shrunk her reflection to the corner and she made connection with the individual on the other side of the screen.

Palmon immediately came into view, her fuchsia petals initially taking up the majority of the monitor until she adjusted herself and her face shone after seeing Mimi through the screen. They let out squeals of delight in unison and all Mimi wanted was to jump into the screen and give her Digimon pal a gigantic smooch. "Mimi! Mimi! Mimi!" Palmon exclaimed in sheer happiness, making Mimi slightly lower the volume to the desktop, else someone walk in to the computer lab room in curiosity and ruin her moment of privacy.

"Palmon, you look radiant!" The brunette sighed, half in jealousy, half in happiness.

"Relaxed, more like it!" Palmon's petals swayed in the air as she twirled, making Mimi want to join her in the Digital World all the more.

"You're making me jealous."

"Oh it's _beautiful _here! Seriously you guys should come in, too, and we will show you the beach and the rivers and the hot springs and the buffet and the _amazing _beds." Palmon spoke quickly, yet Mimi held on dearly to every word her partner spoke, her mind fluttering as she imagined the scenes.

"You're killing me!" Mimi sighed happily and her Digimon partner giggled.

It was true; the Digimon had been out on a vacation that just seemed to drag on forever, and all Mimi wanted to do right now was to activate a Digi-Port and join her partner. It had been over a week, Mimi presumed, since they were invited to a brand new Digimon resort in a recently formed island. The chosen twelve, having saved both worlds on different occasions, received special invitations to be the first to sample the brand new facilities, but given their temporary rupture—Mimi's and Tai's feud mostly—and the fact that the teens where in mid-semester, the Digimon decided to go ahead and try out the resort on their own. Today was the first time Mimi and Palmon could coincide on a time to chat together, seeing how Palmon was _too busy enjoying the resort to make a computer connection_.

"Well either way I'm happy for you Palmon, you look like you're really enjoying it," Mimi smiled prettily, wishing her partner was with her physically so she could give her a hug and cry and complain about her recent woes. Palmon couldn't know of her heartache however, for she would want to cut her vacation short just to be here as her emotional support.

"Yeah… Agumon and I have a dinner later tonight," Palmon blushed deeply and Mimi's mood immediately changed.

"Agumon huh," Mimi was slightly annoyed—obviously Agumon was in cohorts with Tai, and Palmon getting lovey-dovey with him vexed her. It had been cute at some point back when Mimi was head over heels for Tai, that way they could double date, Tai with Mimi _and_ Agumon with Palmon. But the moment Tai's and Mimi's breakup turned bitter so did their opinions about Agumon and Palmon together. The two Digimon continued to see each other though, just with less frequency and slightly more secretly.

Palmon's cheeks turned redder and her eyes widened in caution, also noting the slip of her tongue. "Mimi…"

"It's ok Palmon, just don't bring me up in your lovey-dovey conversations. I don't want Tai knowing what's going on with me through you or Agumon."

Her friend then took the short silence that followed as an opportunity to change the topic, "Mimi, you'll be alright without me? We won't be back for another week."

Mimi wanted to tell her partner she truly missed her, but instead bit her tongue and replied in a haughty manner, "Well we've been fine so far." Mimi would rather talk about their group as a whole than just her individually, not wanting to stretch the truth so much. "Besides it's not like some eminent enemy is suddenly going to rise up in the few days that you all will be away," Mimi placed her chin on her wrist and let out a nonchalant little laugh.

The sounds of footsteps approaching the computer lab brought their conversation to a sudden halt. Mimi wasn't in the mood to explain to an unsuspecting student that she was actually a Digi-Destined and also had a Digimon partner, so she quickly said, "Palmon I think someone's coming, let's talk later?"

Palmon let out a cute, squealing sound before agreeing. "Sure Mimi!"

"And don't worry I won't try to contact you while you're on your date," Mimi finally added in with some sass in her tone. Mimi left Palmon blushing and with the click of her mouse ended their conversation.

Just then the doors to the computer lab opened and two merry freshmen entered in mid conversation. At first they were too preoccupied with somebody out in the hallway to notice her, until their attentions turned back to the empty computer lab. Mimi was surprised to see T.K. and Kari waltzing right in, and their expressions lit up at the sight of her.

"Mimi!" Kari nearly leapt her way to the desk next to her, where she promptly sat.

"Hah what a coincidence!" T.K. also followed her lead, settling next to Kari.

"What are you guys up to?" Mimi was slightly annoyed that she had terminated her conversation with Palmon; if only she had known T.K. and Kari were the ones coming in…

"We were looking for you." Kari gave her a big smile that immediately made Mimi curious.

"Yeah, we had just given up and decided to come here to surf the internet, and here you are!" T.K. shrugged as he logged in to the computer in front of him. "What are you doing here anyways?" T.K. was momentarily puzzled, since he always imagined Mimi being immersed with theater activities, not spending lonely lunches in the deserted computer lab.

Mimi logged off her computer and made to gather her things before shrugging and saying, "Palmon finally had time to talk to me… you know, how they're so busy having the time of their lives?"

Kari jumped in her seat. "Oh yeah! I talked to Gatomon last night, she told me about the lakes and that one waterfall she keeps going on about."

"I didn't take Gatomon for someone that liked the water…" Mimi commented half-mindedly, and Kari and T.K. laughed in unison when they realized the same.

"Anyways Mimi! We were looking for you because—" Kari started but was cut off by an eager T.K.

"We came to warn you about Jet Suzuki!"

"Turns out he's also running for President—"

"This guy—you have to be careful with him—"

"Yeah, he's in the basketball team with T.K.—"

"Now hold on, hold on!" Mimi cut them off before they could drown her with words. "What are you two, some kind of weird, mind-reading, Siamese twins?"

Kari and T.K. instantly looked at each other before smiling goofily. Mimi sighed half annoyed that her joke actually turned their attentions to each other instead of on the pressing issue at hand, and finally asked, "So, who is Jet Suzuki and what in the world does he want?"

T.K. went back to searching for something on the internet while Kari explained, "Jet Suzuki is in your year Mimi, and he's just announced that he also wants to run against you."

"He's not working for Tai is he?" Mimi asked skeptically.

"No, he's also running against Tai…" Kari gave Mimi a look, and the Sincerity-Crest holder looked down at her own silliness.

"This guy though, Mimi you really ought to be careful with him…" T.K.'s eyes were still locked on his computer monitor as he searched for something.

"Why?" Mimi shifted on her seat uncomfortably; apprehension brewing inside her now that she not only had Tai to compete against, but also against this Jet Suzuki character.

"Dude, I know him, he's in the basketball team with me, but I can't stand him. He's cruel and condescending, plus there's a rumor going around that he beats his girlfriend."

"If rumors in this school were true I would be a boring genius with no social life and a one-way ticket to the Yale School of Drama in America," Mimi tried to appease their hardened expressions with a slight chuckle, but both seemed convinced that this Jet Suzuki basketball player persona could actually be dangerous to her.

T.K. made a couple clicks with his mouse and finally exclaimed, turning their attentions to his computer monitor, "Look that's him." His picture had been posted on the school's sports website. Jet was a lean boy with hair the color of briar and hard eyes that stared back at them from the photograph.

Mimi huffed, her demeanor unshaken, and T.K. was only left to say, "I play with him on the team and I don't even trust him… just be careful, Mimi." Mimi did not know what this Jet person wanted, but one thing was sure, if he ran for President he would surely pull votes from Tai's sporty majority, which could work to her advantage. Her eyes narrowed at the cold expression he had on the picture though, and only when she looked away was she able to shake the uneasy feeling it gave her.

**333**

**-Sora**

A bustle of chatting students passed by her, almost knocking her lunch bag over, and Sora decided to quickly scurry to a table else they trampled her in their carelessness. Sora sat quietly for a couple minutes in one of the few empty tables within the busy school cafeteria. She looked around and felt saddened that she couldn't spot at least one of her friends. Had they gone out to eat in the gardens without her? Her gaze settled on Izzy, but she suppressed the thought of joining his table the moment his pretty, blonde girlfriend sat beside him.

Her solitary woes were short lived however, for Matt suddenly came out from a busy hubbub of students and promptly sat to her right. "Hey Sora," he breathed out as he set a brown bag in front of him, today it seemed he had brought his own lunch.

"You made your own food?" Sora tried to get closer for a sniff, but was sure that if the students could use a microwave to heat it, it would smell extra delicious.

Matt had packed a small glass container that held a neat pile of rice topped with a single egg. "It's kind of unremarkable," Matt felt slightly flattered, but admitted that it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Where's everyone, by the way?" He suddenly realized that their table had been empty for much too long when Sora began unpacking her assortment of vegetables and chips; probably after noting that she had brought food for the whole lot once again.

She offered him some baby carrots and tomatoes before saying, "I don't know… even Lina is missing in action." She mentioned the shy freshman girl that had recently begun hanging out with them at lunch.

They shared a long glance before quickly looking away and into their foods, their cheeks attaining a slight pink shine. Both Sora and Matt ate quietly and soundly for a while and all Sora could think about was how silly she must seem, not uttering a single word to him just because they were eating together _alone_. Her thoughts trailed to Mimi and she remembered her friend's request; "_see if you can get anything out of him… if he likes anyone."_

Did she want to find out if he liked anyone, or _whom_, as a matter of fact? Beside her Matt ate oblivious to her musings, his hands occasionally stealing a chip or two from her bag. Maybe it would seem out of place to ask him directly, and Sora figured she didn't have to be straightforward, if only she read his mannerisms…

The red-head gave him an amused look until he finally noticed her stare. With rice and egg and chips in his mouth Matt quickly blushed and asked, "What?"

Sora giggled at his dismayed disposition, making him blush all the more. The blonde finally swallowed hard and bestowed her an inquiring stare as he asked, "What's so funny?"

The girl went back to her food, "So Matt, the Teenage Wolves are in the school play, what's up with that?" Sora mentioned his band.

"What do you mean?" Matt now had his full attention on her, as if he was afraid of uttering the wrong answer.

"Oh I'm just surprised; you've never been in any of the plays before…" Her hand and fingers slowly trailed over to the chips bag, resembling a walking spider. She snatched a single chip and quickly deposited it in her mouth, chewing soundly and giving him a smile.

His alertness was swept away and he quickly let his guard down. He, too, began taking chips from the bag, and occasionally their hands touched as they fought for the last couple chips left. "Yeah I know… I don't know, one day Mimi just asked me and I thought it couldn't hurt so I agreed…"

"You'll have even more fangirls now," Sora chuckled, knowing of Matt's life-long dislike for squealing girls that adored him just because he could play in a band.

He grimaced slightly and just shrugged. There was a small pause in which Sora raked her brain to think of any other way she could have an idea of how he felt. She suddenly decided that despite his solitary demeanor she had always found him easy to read, to understand, or did he allow himself to be that way only to her? Her cheeks darkened at this thought.

"Say Matt, are you falling for Mimi?" Sora let out a couple fake giggles, inwardly hoping for the real answer to be _no_.

His ears immediately perked and his nose turned scarlet. He scratched the back of his blonde hair and coughed a half chuckle before replying, "That's random. What makes you think that?"

Sora never peeled her eyes from him, hoping to dig in through the windows that were his blue eyes and find the answer in the depths of his heart. "Well you two seem particularly close lately…" She could tell his mind was racing to gather the correct answer. Why was he trying so hard to please her?

"No. It's just that we've been working together for a while… with the play and all…" He gave her a crooked smile and confessed, "She's wanted to hang out a lot lately, too…" He must have assumed she thought him to be lying, for he finally finished by saying, "I don't like Mimi, Sora."

Blue met brown and the two were silent for a little while until Sora was the first to break their spell, "But you do like someone." His eyes widened for a split second and the girl suddenly added in, "I can tell."

Matt gulped, speechless for a second. She felt him drawing closer, his hand now brushing hers, and Sora felt the victim of her own trap. Her cheeks turned hot and she just wished she could look away, else he discover every feeling that rushed through her thundering heart. They both jumped in sheer surprise when the sounds of the bell resonated within the school cafeteria. Their bubble burst and they suddenly became aware of the sounds of the students eating and walking and talking. Their stares had been locked just a while back, as if their emotions had created a different setting and transported them away from the noises of the cafeteria, but it had all evaporated now.

Matt quickly gathered his empty glassware and Sora her trash, and the two made to leave their table. Sora turned around when she felt someone's hand brush against her arm, and her eyes met Matt's once again. "Let's walk to class?" His voice had attained that lovely tone she cherished so much.

"Yeah." She graced him with a pretty smile and the two merged within the crowd of rushing students, disappearing from sight.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Mimi had reached that point where she was worried of gaining a tardy record for her English class. She was an exemplary student, future Student Council President, and head of the theater group; she couldn't be walking around the school like a delinquent that didn't respect tardiness policies. Oh but her theater professor just talked and talked and talked, and her admiration for him prevented her from even chirping in to interrupt him. Her honey eyes gazed upon her wrist watch; she squealed in panic and only walked faster.

After her brief conversation with T.K. and Kari at the computer lab, Mimi went to the theater room to pick up the English homework she had forgotten in Mr. Watanabe's office early in the morning. She was, however, ambushed by said professor and conned into discussing the play's progress, after which he trailed off to give her even more advice about the entertainment world. Mimi could swear by now that she knew all his speeches by heart.

Mimi huffed and puffed and just as she was about to round a corner, her classroom several hallways away, somebody called out her name loudly from behind her, "Tachikawa!"

She recognized that voice. Mimi stopped dead in her tracks and hesitated before turning around. Should she ignore him and play the ignoring game in English as well, or get it over with here in the hallways and consequently be late to class? Her heart gnawed and she cursed inwardly before whipping around, honey eyes meeting fiery chocolate.

"Can I help you?" Mimi plastered a fake, sweet smile on her lips once she noticed his demeanor ready to accuse her of something and pick a fight. _Bring it on, _she thought.

"You know, I would have dropped it, back when we were walking to Matt's place. That _you weren't plotting something_," Tai walked dangerously close to her and Mimi could only resort to roll her eyes at him. Was he still sour about that? "But you are up to something! What the hell were you thinking, daring my sister to kiss T.K.?"

Mimi's eyes nearly flared up and her cheeks turned red before she hotly told him, "You hypocrite! Now you're pulling the "protective brother" card, aren't you?" She poked him painfully on the chest, making him flinch and step back. "You were ready to make her kiss someone else… maybe Davis, to return the favor huh?" Her words hurt even her, and she just suppressed all the feelings that rushed through her skin and blood as the mental image of Tai kissing Sora clouded her senses. _The pig!_

"Are you trying to split the group up by starting all this ridiculous drama?" Tai suddenly regained his footing, drawing closer, and Mimi's eyes blurred with a certain salty substance…

She broke eye contact as she whispered vehemently, "That's not how I see it. Just stop dreaming that Davis will ever have a chance with Kari. Your sister likes T.K. and that's that." Mimi then regained some confidence and, just to hurt him as much as he was hurting her, finished with, "You're just sour that not only is T.K. beating Davis at getting Kari, but Sora is probably into Matt."

The glare he had on her intensified, yet he was too infuriated to reply anything back. Tai stepped back, and without a single murmur strolled away from her and towards their class, out of sight.

Mimi counted the seconds as her heart still pounded hard against her chest, and was startled when the bell resonated within the empty hallways. There was no point in rushing to class now, she was already tardy. Her eyes glared at the corner where Tai disappeared to and decided to take a different route, even if it took her longer; by now she didn't care. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and her feet took her round a different hallway, her eyes watery and downcast.

She was so tired; tired of the constant fights, of the constant apprehension. She missed feeling at ease around her friends, Tai included; missed letting her guard down and not having the impulse to retaliate with a painful remark or comment; missed knowing that she could trust him. It was almost becoming her way of life, these constant fights. Should she be the one to admit defeat, sit down with Tai and admit that she's at fault? They had agreed to pretend to be in a stalemate, yet were still viciously fighting behind closed doors.

She then considered how Tai must have been feeling as well, and although part of her wanted to hurt and hate him eternally, the other side of her, the side that held on dearly to her buried feelings for him, felt distressed. Maybe it would be the sensible thing to do to approach him later after school and at least reassure him that she really wasn't plotting anything against her group; that whatever might be kindling between T.K. and Kari was happening on its own accord.

Her musings had her distracted, so she was surprised when she passed yet another hallway and ran into a student violently berating a girl much smaller than him and pushing her against a wall. Mimi stopped dead in her tracks—almost immediately forgetting her previous confrontation with Tai—and glared until both noticed her. The aggressive teen was tall, lean, and carried a heartless stare that Mimi immediately recognized; she had seen his picture merely hours ago. Her eyes then settled on the petite girl that stood against the wall at his mercy, her blue eyes were watery, making Mimi's blood boil in anger.

Jet Suzuki straightened out and stepped back, his shoulders and hands releasing the grip he had on the poor girl, and directed his condescending smirk at Mimi. "Mimi Tachikawa... shouldn't you be in class? Why don't you run along? You'll be tardy."

Mimi crossed her arms and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, her posture adamant and challenging. "So will you." Mimi wanted to reach forward and ask the lithe girl if she was alright, if she needed assistance, but the girl had retreated behind Jet and shielded herself behind his threatening demeanor.

With two long strides Jet rounded on Mimi. His lips smirked yet his ebony eyes bore into hers and Mimi felt a chill running up her spite. He circled her, almost as if he was a hungry tiger sizing his prey, and whispered silkily into her ear, "If I were you I would withdraw from the Presidential race." Mimi huffed in defiance yet he continued, "Wouldn't want such a pretty thing getting hurt along the way… only to lose."

Disgusted, she almost pushed him away, but he was quick enough and stepped back out of her reach, halting next to the lithe girl that didn't seem so defenseless anymore. "What the hell are you talking about?" Mimi called out, frustrated at his nerve and confused at his unfounded aggression. The anger that he bred within her was different than what she felt when she fought Tai though. It felt more like an instinctive defensive mechanism; she was as angry as she was afraid.

Jet took a forceful hold of the girl's arm as he spat, "All I'm saying is, you don't stand a chance against me. Now if you're as smart as they claim, you would do exactly what I'm telling you." He dragged the girl away and the two quickly turned a corner and disappeared from sight before Mimi could retaliate.

She stood rooted to the spot, rattled at their sudden confrontation. _Who the hell does he think he is?_ Mimi thought hotly. And why did she feel so apprehensive around him? Her musings were interrupted when her gaze happened to fly over her wrist watch, and she panicked as she realized just how late she would be. Mimi crossed the hallway and simply decided on sprinting to class, her hair ruffling with the wind and her cheeks flushing in exhaustion.

**333**

**-Kari**

It was an oddity, for their classroom to be this quiet. Typically their art class was characterized by the constant prattle and occasional laughter, but the moment their substitute teacher came in she had quickly forced a somber mood in the classroom. Early in the period the substitute teacher proved she wasn't the bark and no bite type, for she didn't hesitate to deliver two defiant students to the principal's office. The class watched, astounded, and then quickly delivered their attentions to their personal art pieces, avoiding eye contact with the uptight substitute teach at all costs.

Kari had her head slumped on her art table, her art piece forgotten. Their substitute teacher was drowning on and on about the Surrealism movement like this was some kind of Art History class, making Kari want to bury her head in the ground like an ostrich. Beside her, she could hear T.K.'s slight chuckle; he seemed to be amused at her misery. Still, the girl was simply thankful that she at least had _him_ by her side.

Butterflies erupted in her belly when she felt T.K.'s gentle touch on her arm. Her chocolate eyes rounded in surprise as she looked up and was blinded by a piece of paper T.K. had placed right on top of her face. "T.K.!" She whispered, only to receive a coy "sssh" from him.

Her gaze landed upon light charcoal scribbles and Kari sat up in curiosity once she realized he had written her a message. "_Let's skip?"_ His handwriting was airy and miniature, something Kari found absolutely captivating.

_"This angry woman would probably send us straight to the principal's office_," she quickly scribbled back, making sure the substitute teacher wasn't watching when she slid the paper towards T.K.

_"I'd risk it, if you really don't want to be here."_

Kari read his message and the butterflies in her belly only fluttered in delight. She took a quiet, deep breath to calm her emotions before replying, "_I think… chatting would be enough to keep me entertained :)_."

It was a while before T.K. thought of something to write back, seconds Kari utilized to silently move her stool closer to him, simply feeling delighted to be around him. The two sat frozen when the substitute teacher gave them a suspicious glance, but her attention quickly went back to her lecture and the two Digi-Destined let out a breath of relief.

_"Hey Kari, do you think your brother might be into Sora?"_ His scribbled question momentarily took her by surprise, but she immediately felt silly and decided she shouldn't be surprised. T.K. was more intuitive than any of them ever gave him credit for. He took the paper before she could write anything else down and added in, "_I mean after what happened Saturday_."

She almost giggled, but stopped herself else they were discovered by the uptight substitute. "_I guess so… it kinda seems that way… but I always thought he was still in love with Mimi."_

Now it was T.K.'s turn to look astounded. "_Woah. So I guess he needs to make up his mind? What's greater, his love or his hate?"_

Kari smiled broadly, a longing breeding within her. Even when talking about a relationship that turned their group bitter, T.K. was always kind and understanding. She pressed her short, brown hair on the sleeve of his shirt as she leaned on him, and scribbled her reply. "_I've no idea what's going on in my brother's mind. I don't want to ask him because he probably doesn't know either_."

Her head shook with the movement of his writing hand, and so she moved away, meeting his blue eyes. "_But Sora and Tai kissed," _he wrote back.

_"It was just a dare, T.K."_

His blue eyes lingered on the piece of paper and Kari waited several long seconds for his reply. His finger was slightly grazing the paper as he paused, and Kari suddenly felt terrified that her implied message had actually hurt his feelings. The girl snatched the piece of paper—not caring if the nosey substitute saw her—and her heart pounded hard against her chest as she cautiously materialized her resolution. T.K. had always been honest with her, so it was only fair she'd be honest with him, too. And Kari was now _sure_ of his feelings; the proof of it was everywhere, in his kind words, in his body language, in his smiles, in Saturday's kiss… Her pencil would materialize her resolution.

_"For them it was just a dare, but for me it wasn't."_ She smiled goofily as she reread her words over and over, and her heart pounded _hard_ when she handed T.K. the note. It was amazing how a few words could mean so much.

Kari focused on all his movements, on the sound of his breathing, on his writing hand that slightly hovered over the note, and the blood rushed to her face at his hesitation. She almost reached over to grab the paper, to add something else, but T.K. eventually scribbled down, "_I felt it_."

He took a deep breath and finally met her eyes, and the two smiled. He tilted his head forward, grabbing the back of her hair, and leaned his forehead on top of hers, their eyes still locked.

"T.K.," Kari let out a little whisper.

"Kari," and T.K. whispered back.

There was a pause in which Kari's heart thundered; she was oblivious to the curious stares her fellow classmates were starting to give them, yet felt incredibly self-aware at the stare he had on her. "It was so much more than just a dare," T.K. finally added in with a sweet whisper, summoning an ear-to-ear smile on Kari's lips.

"You two lovebirds! Mind taking it to the hallway?" Suddenly their spell was broken, and the entire classroom burst into laughter once the teacher noticed their moment of privacy.

Kari's cheeks burned bright red and the two swiftly turned away, goofy smiles still plastered upon their lips.

"_Would_ you like take it outside?" The teacher pressed on with a condescending look in her eyes, and the two freshmen promptly shook their heads. "Good. Let's continue!"

Kari tuned out the remainder of the teacher's lecture in sheer bliss. Her heart still pounded and her stomach still tingled, and beside her she felt T.K. lean on her arm. But even though they didn't dare look at each other again, she felt truly content. It was a while later when T.K. surprised her by grabbing the piece of paper—which was nearly completely filled with the remnants of their conversation—and wrote down, "_Let's go to the Spring Dance together?"_

_"Okay."_

**333**

**-Tai**

Their soccer coach was late. The entire team by now had scatter around the field; some walked over to the baseball field and happily chatted with the Softball ladies, while others lay stagnant in the bleachers, their skins roasting under the hot sun. Tai sat alone on the grass, one hand slumped over his eyes to shield them from the unforgiving rays of light while the other held an empty water bottle. He was thirsty, he decided, but felt too lethargic, too annoyed, too depressed, to even rise from the grass to refill it.

His chocolate eyes would occasionally scan the bleachers and the soccer field in hopes of spotting Davis, but the boy seemed just as MIA as his tardy soccer coach. Had something happened? Tai would wonder, and his thoughts then veered to just how miserable he felt today. Somebody had started a rumor that Tai was incapable of achieving what he most desired, and was therefore a terrible candidate to become Student Council President. Who would want a big-talking charlatan as President, anyways? He initially laughed it off, unaffected by the fervent whispering going around the hallways, until somebody_ somewhere_ vociferated how him and Davis were trying to date two girls—Sora's and Kari's names came up between conspicuous coughs—but were unable to do just that.

"Their nerve," Tai grumbled between gritted teeth, screwed his eyes shut, and slumped onto the grass, setting himself up for the afternoon sun to devour him. How was his relationship life any of their businesses? Tai momentarily pondered just how much he hated his school, even though a little voice in the back of his head laughed and pointed out that to most he was like a celebrity. He then tried to think of who would benefit from such ridiculous rumors, and could only think of one person; _Mimi_, the root of his problems.

His heart clenched painfully; he hated to hate her but in his current disposition didn't feel anything else _but_ hate. Almost as if just thinking of her would summon her, something within him made him sit up, and his eyes nearly jumped in surprise when he saw her clumsily pass through a hubbub of students as she stepped onto the soccer fields. Tai immediately rose to his feet, his heart pounding hard in anger and his ears turning even redder.

From far away she seemed almost innocent and genuine, and he was simply amazed at how somebody with such a countenance could be so spiteful. Finally her feet took her right in front of him, and Tai was ready to confront her once again. "What do you want?" He feigned mild disinterest.

Mimi gave him a small, puzzled look and stood with her hands behind her back, momentarily speechless. "Umm… Tai—"

"If I remember correctly, our agreement is to pretend that we don't mind each other while we're hanging with the group. It doesn't include additional interaction, so spit it out so I can get this over with." He was too hot, too heartbroken, too frustrated, to bother to inject his words with any kindness.

Her cheeks turned bright red and her mood changed. "Tai, what is your problem?"

"Well what were you expecting_? 'Oh hi darling, how nice to see you out here in the fields in this beautiful weather'? _You don't exactly deserve any respect from me right now." He noticed the way her eyes changed and he could have sworn he saw her eyes sparkle before she looked away. _Now she guilt trips me_, he thought hotly.

Her gaze remained rooted to grass ground as she said, "I came to apologize."

Now that took him by surprise. "So you're the one that spreading the rumors?" Even though she was here admitting to it and apologizing, it only made him feel worse, now that he sure she was the one talking behind his back.

"What? What rumors?" She finally graced him with her honey eyes, which still held the slightest glint of a tear.

Tai only clenched his jaw.

"Tai what are you talking about?"

In the blink of an eye he had leaned closer and rounded on her, his glare intensifying as he told her, "You're telling people that I can't get with Sora? You're the one talking about me and Davis?"

Just as Mimi took a withdrawing step he thought of grabbing her, so that she wouldn't run away like she often did. "I—what are you talking about—no!" Her voice shook and it was then that Tai realized just how hostile he must have appeared to her.

"Tai I'm not talking behind your back or setting anything up against Davis or spreading rumors or anything like that! I don't understand why you're constantly having these suspicions about me!" Her eyes watered as she turned away, and Tai _knew_ she was getting ready to flee.

_No_, he thought desperately. "_Mimi_," His voice also shook, and his heart gnawed and screamed at him. Why was he still constantly plagued by all these confusing feelings regarding her? He had made her cry once before, and he knew he was not about to do the same, especially not while they stood in the middle of a crowded soccer field and his body sweat and his heart pounded.

Tai surprised her by grasping her hand and leading her to the shadow behind the bleachers, away from curious eyes and from the unforgiving sun. "Did you start the rumors?" He asked, thinking he would give her another chance.

The girl before him gulped heavily before saying, "Hear me out Tai." She took a deep breath, her gaze traveling past the bleachers and towards the fields, avoiding his eyes. "I heard what they're saying, and it wasn't me. I know you think that I'm setting T.K. up with Kari just to spite Davis, but I'm really not. I know your sister and I can tell she likes T.K., so it's unfair that you and Davis have these wishes for her. I'm not starting any rumors against you, heck if anything _you're_ the one that still has flyers against me," she gave him a pained look and all Tai was left to do was take a step back and look away in acceptance.

"I—I guess I haven't taken those down," His hand dug deep into his scalp, painfully tugging on several hair strands in frustration. His breath was caught in his throat when he gazed upon her once again and she held a pretty, hesitant smile. Her chestnut hair was shining under a gleam of light that had filtered from the top bleacher steps, and her cheeks were flushed from the heat. His heart pounded hard as he stared, realizing that he used to have that, and he fervently wanted it back.

"Tai?"

He blushed and looked away, noting that his stare probably made him appear a little creepy.

Nevertheless she pressed on, oblivious to how captivating she looked. "I came here to apologize, though. I'm just tired of fighting all the time. I know you can't trust me and I probably shouldn't trust you either," her words impaled his beating heart, but he never once interrupted her. "But I'm willing to extent this truce and not be so hostile anymore, because let's face it, it hurts."

Her cheeks rose with her small, hesitant smile and all Tai wanted to do was extent his hand and touch those smiling cheeks. Instead he bit his words and looked out at the grass field; he knew her, and he knew that if he just listened, she would unintentionally end up spilling her feelings out.

"I know who could have started those rumors though," now she had his attention. "Some Jet Suzuki guy is running for presidency too. I don't know… something about him makes me feel that he's capable of anything."

"How would he know about Davis and Kari and me and Sora though?"

"Well half the school knows Davis likes Kari," Mimi breathed out with a little chuckle.

"True."

"I'm not about to let you win Student Council President, and I'm especially not about to let this Jet punk beat me either," Mimi finished with a sassy tone, recovering from her moment of weakness and reverting back to her usual self.

His lips morphed into a half smirk, already predicting what they would have to do next. "So you're going to propose…" he began with an airy tone.

"Let's take Jet down, and then we can worry about beating each other."

Tai stretched his arms out with a yawn, realizing that practice time was nearly over and their coach had never shown up, which meant that soccer practice was now officially canceled. "I like your plan. I don't know who this Jet person is or what he wants, but if he's talking shit about me and Davis, he's going to pay for it." When he turned back to her the gaze she had on him reminded him of the days when he was their leader in the Digital World, when they worked together and she trusted in his counsel.

"Good. I barely know him and I already dislike him." The smile they shared seemed almost surreal, but before it got too weird Mimi snapped out of it and turned to leave now that nothing else was left to say.

Again, Tai panicked, not yet ready to watch her walk away. "Mimi—" he suddenly called out. She had stepped into the sun, so when she finally graced him with her questioning stare her eyes shone gold. "What went wrong between us?" His uttered question was directed to him as much as it was directed to her.

Her chestnut locks bobbled beside her as her head shook and her lips whispered, "It wasn't meant to happen."

It made sense, but then why did his gnawing heart disagree with her so fervently?

**333**

_Tuesday_

**-Davis**

Davis slammed his locker open and grumbled loudly under his breath, though the hallways were so busy nobody cared to give much heed. He was amazed at how quickly his day seemed all the more mediocre after hearing several freshman laugh about the school's latest _joke_; Davis' third-wheeling love triangle with Kari and T.K. And even in front of his face they would laugh and exclaim how his failure at relationships was surely a consequence from hanging out with Tai too much.

The moment they started gossiping about Tai, though, Davis was sure a certain Presidential candidate was behind it all. Surely Mimi thought it would be clever to inject stupid rumors about them so that no one would want to vote for Tai, and what better way than to point out the fact that Davis was endlessly chasing after Kari, to no avail. The boy glared into his messy locker one last time before slamming the poor thing shut.

He was surprised when he saw one of the girls from the Student Council pass by him, taping a pamphlet on the locker next to his. She gave him a funny look before hopping over to other lockers, taping even more pamphlets. Davis quickly read the pink and lettuce green flyer and his mood immediately changed. They were promoting the Spring Dance, which was merely two weeks from now. Now how could he forget about this? The Student Council elections closed with the Spring Dance, where the new President was announced.

Davis snatched the piece of paper and walked away. He walked distractedly, his spirits lifting as he imagined himself inviting Kari and watching her blush and agree to it. This was surely his chance.

His musings were interrupted when somebody fell into pace with him. Lina surprised him by curiously gazing over the flyer in his hands as they walked together. "Hi Davis," her pretty smile went to waste, for the boy was more interested in his destination than chatting with her.

"Oh hey, Lina."

"What do you have there?" He handed her the piece of paper and just hoped she wouldn't get any ideas. "The Spring Dance?"

"Yeah, apparently they have it every year in the middle of the spring semester. You should check it out." He explained with mild disinterest.

"Are you going?"

"Yeah—" His voice broke when he spotted Kari across the hallway by her locker. She had a little frown on her face as she rummaged on her locker, which looked ready to burst with all the books and school supplies it held. Her genuine countenance brought a smile to his face and in that instant he forgot all about Lina walking by him. "Listen… I'll catch you in class, k?" He didn't even spare the girl a glance before jumping into the crowd of people in the opposite direction and strolling over to Kari.

Said girl looked like she was ready to lose her balance when she tipped a stack of books and one came flying out of her locker. Kari duked her head and let out a little squeal of surprise, but Davis was there in an instant and took hold of the book before it came in contact with the tiled floor. "Here you go," He offered her his signature smile.

She sighed in relief and whispered, "Thanks Davis, that book was ready to beat me up."

"Which doesn't make sense; it should be fond of you, since you study with it so much," He winked and she giggled.

She finished gathering her things, aligning the book back in a neat pile with several others. Davis simply watched her, his heart jumping all the way up to his Adam's apple. He suddenly decided that winging his confession would probably be the best and surprised Kari when he blurted out, "Kari wanna go to the Spring Dance with me? I know it's a little early to ask—"

"Oh, Davis…" She had a little deflated look that answered his question before she could even utter a word.

"It's in two weeks," his look matched hers and he inwardly prayed that she was actually_ really_ thinking about it; that she would say yes.

"I'm… I'm going with T.K.," Her face tilted to the side to capture his eyes once he looked away in defeat, though he avoided her gaze.

The sympathetic smile she offered him broke his heart all over again. He should have known; he shouldn't have been so optimistic. The signs were everywhere, Kari _liked_ T.K., and just like the gossip in the hallways insinuated, he was just the third-wheel. His breathing quickened and he inverted his frown into a fake, wide-eyed smile. "Oh, I guess I should have asked sooner, huh?"

His sudden change of emotion took her by surprise, but before she could recover he quickly added in, "I'll catch you in class then!" Davis turned away before she could utter a reply or hurt his heart even more. Any other day Davis would have offered to walk her to class; any other day he would have lingered to give her smiles, to hear her laughter and watch her face lit up at the simple fact that he was there with her. Today, though, he came upon the realization that this was something he just couldn't win.

Ahead of him Lina stood by a huddle of freshmen, smiling in her usual shy manner yet still trying to keep up with the conversation, occasionally glancing his way. Her eyes held a sort of understanding that made him grimace; surely she wouldn't want to approach him and offer him her sympathy? Either way he wasn't in the mood to find out. Davis rounded a corner and decided to take the long way to his next class. If he was tardy to class at least he would avoid having to talk to Kari, or Lina, or T.K.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Her Algebra and English books tipped once an unsuspecting student bumped into her by accident, and suddenly Mimi found herself on the floor picking up all her fallen books and papers. She sighed and leaned against her locker once done, maybe just this time she would leave all the books behind, be a little reckless, a little spontaneous. Her mindless musings were interrupted when she received a text message from Joe; he was urging her to hurry up. That was it—with a breath of relief she turned to her locker and slammed the books back inside, leaving them behind.

Mimi felt airy and carefree with her backpack nearly empty, and she happily strolled the desolate hallways on her way to the library, where the Student Council office resided. Ahead of her she spotted Davis turning into the hallway, but the moment he laid eyes on her he gave her a glare that left her flabbergasted. He unceremoniously passed by her and didn't even spare her a second glance. Mimi stopped and turned to watch him walk away, her airy mood suddenly darkening.

She supposed she deserved that, but still couldn't shake the uneasiness that settled on the pit of her stomach. Mimi wanted to stop him and reassure him that she wasn't planting rumors about him; surely he had the same way of thinking Tai used to have. "Poor Davis," Mimi whispered half-mindedly, realizing that he probably didn't deserve the cold way she had been treating him lately.

The brunette made a mental note to later approach him for a heart-to-heart, if he would allow it. With a sigh she turned to leave and just as she was passing by the girls' restroom decided to make a stop to freshen up. Joe could surely wait a little longer for their Student Council meeting.

Mimi quickly pushed the heavy restroom door open and stood rooted to the floor in surprise at the sight before her. The same girl she had seen the day before during her encounter with Jet stood by the restroom sink in surprise. She had been applying a lotion to her bruised arm, but in the blink of an eye threw her sweater on the moment Mimi walked in. Despite it all, Mimi had seen everything.

They stared at each other for a small second until Mimi approached the sinks and the mirror, and the girl gathered the ointment back into her backpack. Mimi watched her from the corner of her eyes through the mirror; she had shoulder-length, brown hair and a pretty pair of blue eyes. Her eyes were downcast though, and she quickly washed her hands and made to leave, but Mimi suddenly stopped her by uttering, "Mimi."

The girl gave her a puzzled look and Mimi stretched out her hand and smiled as she repeated, "Mimi Tachikawa."

The girl never returned her smile, "I know."

Mimi was only left to raise her eyebrow, but nevertheless gave her another chance, "What's your name?"

"Yoko Konishi."

Mimi supposed she wasn't rude enough to leave her with her hand stretched out, for they eventually shook hands. "Nice to meet you," She smiled again, thinking that the girl probably needed all the sympathy she could give her.

"Yeah," Yoko breathed before leaving the restroom in a flurry and leaving Mimi to herself.

Mimi took a deep breath, annoyance brewing inside her as her mind brought back images of her bruised arms. Maybe the rumors about Jet Suzuki weren't just _rumors_ after all? She gave herself one last look in the mirror and washed her hands, still slightly shaken by the exchange. A buzzing in her pockets brought her back from her reverie. Again, Joe urged her to hurry up. Mimi squealed and rushed out of the restroom, having completely forgotten that Joe was still waiting for her.

The rusty doors of the Student Council opened with a loud squeak, drawing the attention of all its occupants. The treasurer and secretary sat in one of the old tables in the corner, playing a card game, while Joe sat in the biggest lounge chair with his laptop. The moment he saw her arrive though, he set his laptop away and approached the main table in the middle.

"Took you long enough," Joe said as he pushed aside a stack of flyers that promoted the Spring Dance.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Mimi bowed her head forward half a dozen times.

"It's ok…" He ruffled her chestnut hair and the two chuckled. He brought several forms forward, the most important of them all nominated her Vice-President, which she had yet to do.

"You know I really hope you win; Tai would probably make a lousy President, and I have never heard of Jet Suzuki before,"

"Ditto that," Mimi sighed. Her eyes widened when she saw Tai's and Jet's Vice-President forms. In his usual sloppy handwriting Tai had scribbled her name down as his Vice-President. Jet's Vice-President, it seemed, was the girl Mimi had just met; Yoko Konishi.

"What is this?" Mimi breathed out loudly, gaining a couple curious glances from the other two Student Council officers.

Joe just rolled his eyes, almost as if he was already expecting such a reaction. "Don't ask me. You know I'm kind of done trying to understand you two," with a smirk on his lips he gave her a meaningful glance, and all Mimi could do was stare at the piece of paper and frown.

She couldn't believe it; Tai had chosen her as his Vice-President! Was this some kind of joke? To make her Vice-President as some kind of consolation price so that she would be forever more reminded that she lost to him? Or did he truly mean that?

The older Digi-Destined brought her back from her thoughts, "Maybe he knows he's going to suck, so he's bringing you in to help out?"

"Well that's comforting," Mimi chuckled cynically. They thought about it for several long seconds and suddenly burst out in laughter at the irony of it all. She, however, didn't like the idea of serving as Vice-President, as second best, for two years in a row.

Mimi took several greedy gulps of air after laughing so hard, and Joe handed her the Vice-President form, which she had yet to fill in. She wrote down all the information and in the line where she was supposed to nominate her Vice-President she hesitated. Joe gave her a curious glance, to which Mimi replied, "I wanted to have Sora, but she's not so sure yet."

"You can change it later on."

"Oh?"

"Come on Mimi, I'm the President!" Joe laughed warmly.

His smile reassured her, so she quickly scribbled down Sora's full name. Talking about Sora must have reminded him of something, for he quickly added in, "Speaking about Sora… what's up with her and Tai?"

Mimi let out a little derisive chuckle before replying, "If you ask me, I'd say nothing. But according to Tai, it's a whole different story."

"What do you mean?" There was a small pause in which Joe quickly leapt over to the lounge chair to pick up his laptop, but eventually settled back down next to Mimi once again.

"Well…" Mimi hesitated, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. The only reason why Tai and I are being civilized is because Tai wants to _spend more time with Sora_. We agreed on a sort-of truce to hang out with the group together." Mimi rolled her eyes, leaving out any crucial information about her interest in Matt.

At this, though, Joe laughed soundly once again. "That boy… he's just being capricious." Joe watched her carefully, trying to decipher what was going through her mind, and nonchalantly added in, "He doesn't really want to be with Sora, if he did it would have happened a _long_ time ago. He wants to be with someone else."

For some reason the look he gave her unsettled her, and Mimi was left to look away as a blush overtook her cheeks. Any other day she would have pressed on, but just now she was afraid to hear whatever wisdom Joe wanted to share. She was afraid of what the answer would be.

Mimi used the silence that followed to change the subject, "Say Joe, you know how aggressive I can be in my propaganda against pin-head Tai and bully Jet?"

She almost had to ask twice, for he was momentarily preoccupied with a text message he received. "Oh, the teachers don't really care much about what happens between the student body… I mean, you saw it with the flyers Tai had against you."

"It wasn't Tai," Mimi quickly countered, surprising even herself that she was defending him. Again, Joe gave her a look.

"Right. Well unless you print out flyers with blatant porn, the teachers probably won't say anything."

An evil little smile tugged at the corner of her lips at this. She just_ knew_ Jet was going to be a fantastic prick during his campaign, and oh she would be ready. Maybe, if she was bold enough… Well the student body wouldn't want to vote for a wife beater as President, now would they?

**333**

**-Davis**

He had missed practice the day before, and he'd be dammed if the other soccer team prospects used this as an excuse to convince the soccer coach to not include him in the senior soccer team. Davis didn't like to boast, but he was simply too good to be placed in the freshman team. He purposely left his last class early with some sad excuse about stomach pains and food poisoning just so that he could sneak into the coach's office and maybe_ try _to guarantee his spot on the senior team.

As he walked a little voice in the back of his mind jeered in cynicism though; how_ hilarious_ would it be if he also didn't make it to the team? All in one day—he didn't get the girl _and_ he didn't get the spot in the team. Today would just be dandy.

His dark musings were interrupted when somebody emerged from a perpendicular hallway and fell into pace with him. He turned and saw a familiar tall boy with spiky black hair; the boy had a small frown, but greeted him with a friendly 'hi' anyways.

"Hey… I've seen you around," Davis said as they paced the hallways together.

"I play basketball."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for a while, rounding a corner, until they noticed the flyer with the picture of Mimi with reading glasses, titled _A Bore _that was taped to the wall. The tall boy snatched the flyer and crumpled it in sheer annoyance. "This Mimi girl, I can't stand her," he said with a condescending huff before throwing the crumpled paper into a nearby trashcan.

Davis watched him, and the memories of everything that happened today came flooding back. He remembered seeing her on his way to his locker earlier today. She had a stupid little smile plastered on her face and he knew that if he hadn't quickened his pace back then she would have wanted to address him. "Join the club," Davis sneered. "But aren't you doing her a favor, by throwing those away?"

"You would think that, but I can't stand seeing her face everywhere."

Davis chuckled, liking him all the more, and finally introduced himself, "I'm Davis by the way."

"Jet," the boy extended his arm out and they shook hands.

"Going to the gym?" Davis already knew the answer, seeing as they seemed to be walking in the same direction.

"Yep. I told my French teacher I have irritable vowel syndrome so she always lets me out early."

"Nice," and the two laughed at his intrepidity. They split when they reached the gyms hallway. Jet offered him a brief farewell and went inside the basketball court, while Davis pressed on forward, his final destination the soccer coach's office.

The boy lingered outside after he knocked once, twice, tried opening the door, and noticed it was locked. He felt silly; leaving his class early only to find out that his coach wasn't in his office after all. Davis waited for a little while longer until, cursing under his breath, decided to come back later.

He walked back to the court Jet had disappeared to and was surprised to see it empty. Davis gingerly stepped inside, and his gaze traveled to the bleachers, where Jet sat in solitude. He was initially preoccupied with his phone but eventually the teens greeted with a friendly nod. Davis hesitated before walking in and sitting to his side.

"I thought you came to practice," Davis murmured, his mood still downcast from everything that happened today.

"Usually. My girlfriend's throwing a tantrum though," Jet waved his phone in the air, to show that he was actually having a text message discussion. "She's telling me that the Mimi chick is spreading rumors about her, apparently Mimi found out my girlfriend is going to be my Vice-President."

Davis' brow furrowed in sheer dislike. So these were her tactics now? To talk smack against anybody that was bold enough to step up and run against her?

When Jet noticed his mood darkening, he cautiously added in, "You do know she was spreading rumors about you, too, right?"

Davis was momentarily surprised by his statement, even though he was already well aware. "Yeah…" he breathed, feeling slightly weary of the direction this conversation was going.

"About you and that pretty freshman… what was her name again, Kairi?"

"Kari. And there's nothing between us." Davis shifted uncomfortably on his seat, hoping this Jet guy wasn't about to ask him details about his recent failures.

"See that's exactly it. Mimi Tachikawa just loves to talk shit about things that aren't even true!" Jet put his phone away and faced him, drawing Davis' undivided attention. "But I intend to give Mimi a piece of her own medicine… that's why I ran against her. You know?" the teen leaned forward, an eager expression in his ebony eyes.

Davis nodded, "Well I hope you don't mind having your reputation completely ruined."

Jet let out a dry chuckle and continued, "Maybe you want to help me? I'm not like her, I don't start talking shit about people with unfounded lies; I like to exploit what's already there… Problem is, I ain't got nothing I can use against her. But you know her _way_ better than I do, right? Everyone has a dirty little secret…"

Brown eyes locked with ebony black; Jet had a hungry expression in his eyes that was almost contagious. Davis' mind spun and, in a sudden spur of the moment, he decided that after all that had happened Mimi absolutely did not deserve a droplet of his loyalty. The way Jet spoke had him convinced, so he told him everything.

He told him about Mimi's and Tai's failed relationship, how their constant fights split the group and bitterly turned them against each other; he told him about the silly, fake truce Mimi and Tai had, just so that Tai could get a chance with Sora, and Mimi a chance with Matt; he even shared the fact that Tai intended to have Mimi as his Vice-President. And it felt _good_. Any other time Davis would have bit his tongue, would have politely turned away and become weary of Jet's hungry eyes. But today he was too heartbroken, too disillusioned to think twice and realize that he was perhaps walking right into the wolf's mouth. Today he just wanted a taste of revenge.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	5. A Fight of Donkey vs Tiger

About the title... it's an old Hispanic saying when there's a fight or an argument between two entities and one of them clearly has an advantage, it is said that "it's a fight between a tied donkey and a loose tiger."

* * *

><p><strong><em>A Fight of Donkey vs. Tiger<em>**

_Wednesday_

**-Mimi**

The concrete Odaiba sidewalks reverberated with the sound of rain and heavy footsteps. Students, businessmen, and businesswomen ran to and fro, some holding their rain coats and umbrellas, while others absorbed the water the heavens so readily poured. Mimi Tachikawa was part of the lot, though instead of rushing to her destination like the many civilians, she stood paralyzed under a roofed bus stop.

Her stomach churned uncomfortably as she considered her options. Her umbrella was uselessly left at home, and the time for school to start was slowly drawing nearer, yet the rain seemed adamant and unstoppable. Mimi took several deep breaths as she huddled deeper into the roofed bus stop when the rain intensified, her shoulders accidentally rubbing against the back of a chubby man. She was one of the many that were caught in surprise by the rain, and had no other option but to stay under the small roof in hopes that the rain would subside.

Should she wait for the rain to subside and she arrive late to school? Or run past the few blocks that were left and be soaked to the bone? A car carelessly drove by, splashing half of the people standing under the roofed bus stop with water, and Mimi had to hold on tight to a pole else she was shoved back and away from her shelter by the huddle of people avoiding the splash.

She counted the seconds under her breath, and just then a bus coming from a different route made a stop by the hubbub. Some jumped inside the bus, and another half dozen people stepped out and rushed towards the roof. Her eyes nearly doubled in size, though, when she caught sight of a familiar figure emerging from the bus and also dashing towards the roof.

Tai Kamiya was initially too preoccupied with securing a place under the roof to notice her. He gave his head and hair several mighty shakes, allowing the small droplets of water that had settled on his wild locks to bounce off, and swung his umbrella, seemingly ready to continue on his trek. She must have been staring hard, for his eyes eventually turned and their gazes met. It took a second for him to recognize her, but once he did his lips morphed into a crooked smirk.

Tai dodged around the several people as he approached her to close the distance between them and finally stood right next to her. They gazed out at the cars swooshing by in silence for a little while, until Tai half-mindedly asked, "The rain has you trapped here?"

Mimi gave her feet a little bounce as she replied, "Yeah… I don't know if I want to be late to school or walk there now and get soaked to the bone."

Tai gave her a long look, then turned away and scratched his cheek as he mischievously added in, "If I were you I'd stay here and be late… I'm sure that white uniform blouse you girls wear will become _quite_ transparent if it's soaked." Now he wouldn't mind seeing that, he inwardly told himself as his smirk widened.

Mimi abruptly realized the same and blushed twenty different shades of red. She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly _very_ self-conscious.

Tai let out a loud, charming laugh and extended his mahogany umbrella. "Come on Mimi, I'll walk you to school." With a single push, Tai opened his umbrella to its entirety and stood under it out of the bus stop. Her cheeks still burned red, but Mimi was nevertheless grateful and swiftly followed suit.

Tai walked slowly until they got accustomed to each other and acquired a rhythmic pace. Mimi noticed he leaned the umbrella closer to her side so that it would shelter her completely, and she could swear that small specks of his brown hair and parts of his uniform were being exposed to the full force of the rain. His friendly mannerisms only encouraged her, and without noticing Mimi had curled her arm around his as she added in, "Thanks Tai."

His lips tugged at a slight smile that made her miss the comfort of their long-forgotten friendship. Mimi grew bold and, with her gaze fixated on the soaked concrete sidewalk ahead of her, she suddenly asked, "Tai, why did you make me your Vice-President?"

She felt his pace falter for the slightest second, but he quickly recovered and his whispered reply was hardly audible amongst the sounds of their footsteps and the rain, "Because you do a good job as Vice-President, and if I turn out to suck as President at least the school won't suffer too much."

This made her look up, but Tai avoided her gaze. She had a little contemptuous smirk on her lips when she pointed out, "So what you're saying is that you know you will suck as President?"

Chocolate met honey, yet his expression was impassive and Mimi just_ wished_ she knew every thought that rushed through his mind. She then turned away and bitterly told herself that if she actually had the gift to read his mind, he wouldn't be her ex right now.

Tai smiled slyly, "Ok… let's just say you'd make a better President than me." He raised an eyebrow and they stared at each other while they waited for the passing cars to slow down by an intersection. "But I still want to give it a shot," his chest thundered with a chuckle that turned into a laugh and Mimi giggled alongside him.

She punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Then why are you running! Just let me win!" It was their turn to cross the street, and ahead they could see students rushing with their umbrellas towards school grounds. Her curious gaze trailed up and settled on his profile, for he seemed to be avoiding her eyes. Was he afraid that she would read his feelings? Wasn't it well established that she was terrible at doing just that?

His mannerisms just screamed at her that there was something he just _wanted_ to say, but couldn't draw the courage to. She grew angry at him, noting that this was Tai, their leader and holder of the Courage Crest. This was not like him. Her trail of thought then triggered memories of when they were together, when their relationship was slipping, trickling, like water through their fingers. She remembered the times like these, when there were so many words to be said between them, yet neither dared to utter a single one.

She uncoiled her arm from his and just at that instant he replied, "Come on Mimi, a little competition is always healthy."

Mimi glared at the ground before her, inwardly pointing out that the competition they've been having has been anything but healthy—vicious, even.

Then, Tai surprised her when he somberly added in a small tone, almost as if hoping that she couldn't quite catch it, "If I hadn't run against you, we probably wouldn't be talking like this right now."

It was her turn for her steps to falter, but by then they had already arrived to the roofed entrance of their school. At that instant, before Mimi could fully digest his words, and while he paused by the door to fold his umbrella, her eyes caught a glimpse of a flyer past the see-through school entrance doors. It had hers and Tai's name in bold letters, and she immediately forgot all about their exchange, and instead rushed inside the school to better read the message it advertised. Tai followed her with his eyes, startled that she had nearly run away from him.

The flyer was titled in big bold letters, _MIMI AND TAI: The Truth._ Her heart thundered as her eyes flew through every word, quickly taking them in. Mimi felt Tai's presence when he also stood by her side, his chocolate orbs reading alongside her.

Is Mimi Tachikawa really the future President you thought you knew, or a manipulative liar that has been using Tai Kamiya as her "opponent" to win the elections? The TRUTH is that Mimi and Tai have been playing enemies just to make you believe that they're against each other, when in reality Tai Kamiya will withdraw from the race at the last moment, leaving you with no other choice but Mimi Tachikawa. Need proof? What better proof than the fact that Tai has appointed Mimi as his VICE-PRESIDENT. If he ever wins, Mimi will be right there, in power, pulling the strings.

Following the accusing paragraph was a small, black and white, candid photograph of Tai and Mimi. Tai had a determined expression upon his face, and his hand held on tightly to Mimi's arm as they walked together in the soccer fields. This was undoubtedly taken when she had approached Tai out in the soccer fields a couple days ago. Despite Mimi's flustered, blushing expression, the photo gave the feeling that they were both on quite good terms.

On its own, this flyer would have not been such a big deal, but just to add salt to the wound, the flyer also included a much larger photograph titled, _This is how the Mimi and Tai "drama" really looks like_. A photo of a half-lidded Tai holding on tightly to Mimi as she planted a loving kiss upon his forehead was placed right below. Whoever made the flyer had used a picture they had taken when they were together ages ago. A picture that was of_ her_ property!

Mimi would have crumpled the paper then and there, but she continued reading the smaller message below the two photos. _That is why somebody has to step up against their lies. Vote for Jet Suzuki if you're tired of Mimi Tachikawa and her soccer star pawn thinking they can run the school. Vote for me if you are fed up of their manipulative games._

"What the fuck—" Tai breathed next to her.

Mimi immediately crumpled the flyer, now that they were done reading all the _garbage _Jet Suzuki had to say. Her heart hurt, not because she was being called a manipulative liar, or because he had made up some clever story about Tai and her working together for presidency, but because he was picking at the spot in her heart where it was the most tender—her relationship with Tai. The photo brought many long forgotten memories, and when her eyes spun, scanning every wall around her, all she saw was that same picture of herself kissing Tai's forehead.

She took several deep breaths, fighting with all her might to not allow a single tear to materialize in her eyes. "Ahh!" Mimi screamed out in sheer annoyance as she fervently grabbed a couple flyers closest to her and crumpled them with all her might.

A blind rage had overtaken her. It was unfair that all of them were using all these stupid flyers to spread lies against her. What had she done to them? What had she done to Tai's spiteful cheerleaders? What had she done to Jet Suzuki to deserve this?

Suddenly somebody grabbed her by the shoulders, bringing her back to reality, and her teary eyes focused once again and she realized that Tai was now so very close to her. "Mimi," he whispered to her, and for the very first time Mimi felt like she was finally capable of reading his mind. It was as if he was thinking, "_They can't if you don't let them_."

Her dislike for Jet Suzuki, however, got the best of her. She glared at Tai and shrugged his hands off her shoulders. "He's not going to get away with this. I will see you later Tai," Mimi spoke with such finality that Tai daren't stop her, and with several quick strides Mimi walked away, the theater room her final destination.

**333**

**-Tai**

Tai sat, defeated, in the boys' locker room. His eyes followed a small spider crawling past his closed locker door. He hated this spider, he decided. Look at it, blissfully living its life, crawling from wall to wall, from locker door to locker door, as if whatever happened to anyone in the human world was none of its business. Tai had a sudden urge to squash it, to extinguish its life; perhaps he would then feel better about himself—

"Tai there's a spider on your locker," someone stood behind him, pointing out the obvious.

The teen slowly turned, and he had to suppress a glare when he realized Davis had been the one to interrupt his moody musings. "Can I help you?"

"Dude what's been up with you? Why are you sitting here all by yourself? I mean I know the rain ruined practice and all but at least come on out to the gyms…"

_Are you blind?_ He wanted to say, but stopped himself at the last minute, realizing that Davis didn't have anything to do with his misery or the stupid propaganda in the hallways. "Davis, come on, you know what's up…" Tai would have pointed at a flyer nearby, though here there were none, for the moment he had stepped in to the men's locker room he had made it his personal mission to take every single flyer down.

Davis seemed to have been affected a little too much by his comment, and the boy sat on the bench next to Tai, in front of his locker. "Hey at least the flyer is meant to be directed at Mimi… not so much you…"

Tai would have glared, but thought it wasn't worth the effort. "He called me her pawn; he distributed a very personal photo. How is that not supposed to affect me? And how did he get his hands on that photo anyways?"

Davis was silent for a while, making Tai look up at him in curiosity. The younger boy shrugged and suggested, "Maybe it's posted somewhere on the internet. You guys took that picture on our trip to the beach last fall, right? We all have it."

"So you're saying one of us provided him the photo?" Tai's brows furrowed, not liking the direction the conversation was going.

"No, I'm not saying that—I don't know, maybe he got it through MySpace or something—anyways I don't understand why you're so upset about it; I thought you were over her."

Davis had a point, so Tai remained silent.

"Well, aren't you?"

"I am." Was his answer just a reply to Davis' query, or was it a reaffirmation to himself? Either way, it tasted more like a lie to his mouth than anything else. "This Jet prick, if a fight is what he wants, then I will gladly give it to him—"

Davis, knowing Tai meant that quite literally, quickly added in, "Come on man, you can't let him get to you."

"And Mimi knew he was going to pull some dumb shit like this, too; she warned me. He's going to regret the day he decided to spite on her."

Davis suddenly shifted in his seat, turning his entire body to face Tai, and angrily asked, "Tai why are you siding with her all of a sudden? Just be happy that he's taking her down for you and come up with some clever way that will make people believe that Jet is also mad, so the only reasonable Student President has to be you."

The two boys glared at each other for a split second, until Davis was the first to break the silence, "Have you forgotten just how hateful Mimi is with you? Have you forgotten of all the rumors she started about us? Have you forgotten how she hooked T.K. and Kari up? And it worked, by the way!"

It suddenly dawned on him. Tai brought his hand up to his face and took a deep breath, else he burst out laughing and piss Davis off any more.

"I used to think that I could count on her… I mean we all shared a pretty strong bond with everything that happened in the Digital World. Mimi and I were never particularly close, but I never imagined she would be this sort of person."

Tai gave him a single, long stare, and once he realized Davis was done venting about the Sincerity Crest holder, he began, "She's not this sort of person. Davis wake up, we've all been friends for quite a while, and don't you think we would have noticed by now if she schemed like you think she does?"

"But we_ are_ noticing!"

"Davis! Everything got out of control because you thought that Mimi was trying to hook T.K. and Kari up, but really, she had nothing to do with it! My sister just happened to choose T.K. and not you," Tai felt like a jerk having to break it down to him that way, but Davis' senses just seemed to be too clouded by what had happened in the past couple weeks. And after really thinking about it, Tai concluded he was also at fault; always portraying Mimi in a negative light to Davis—and he had a good reason to—but now Davis was convinced that she was the villain of the story.

"Mimi isn't the one spreading rumors about us, it's Jet. I would imagine that to be obvious by now, seeing how he printed a million flyers making me look like a whipped dog." Davis just stared, stunned, and looked down in sheer shame. "Just trust me on this, ok? Jet is doing everything he can to make sure the school hates us and to make sure that he gets all the votes. Mimi is not as bad as I've made her to be, she just… occasionally—always fights back. And I guess I've just been bitter about our break up—I—I guess I'm not entirely over her."

He sighed deeply. There, he'd said it; he finally admitted what he had been dreading since the moment he signed up as presidential candidate. Davis' turned to him, wide-eyed, his mouth slightly parting in surprise in a genuinely goofy way. But Tai supposed he ought to be honest. Here they sat, while he mercilessly shredded Davis' heart by making him realize that he and Kari were never meant to happen, so it was only fair that he also admitted the truth he had been dreading all along.

"I don't know—just don't take what I say to heart. My feelings towards Mimi are confusing as hell and most of the time I don't know if I hate her or if I love her—"

Davis jaw hung open even lower, making Tai chuckle derisively at himself.

"I just know that it's never somewhere in-between…"

They remained silent for a long while, their eyes locked on their feet and their minds preoccupied with Tai's sudden resolution. "Why did you two break up? And how did it get so bad? If you don't mind me asking…" Davis' whispered words filled the empty locker rooms.

Tai exhaled soundly before uttering his reply, "It was really stupid… people couldn't get out of our business; they were always gossiping about every little thing. The cheerleaders were always quick to jump in on the Mimi hate-bandwagon, and they were constantly talking behind her back. I guess you never noticed because you joined the senior team this semester, but they used to hate her… Maybe because they were jealous that I ended up liking her and not any of them? I don't know. Anyways Mimi and I never talked about it, but I could always tell that it really bothered her—"

He covered his face with both hands and grunted in annoyance, screwing his eyes shut as the memories of just how miserable he felt back then came rushing back. "We never had proper communication, everything was always nice and perfect until the very last second. It was like a time bomb; like we were both afraid to talk about _anything_ because it would cause us to break us apart. I think the last straw for Mimi was Akihiro Higurashi—" This drew Davis' undivided attention. Akihiro Higurashi was the previous soccer captain, a senior that graduated early to play soccer for a private league.

"How—"

"I remember I used to be obsessed with appearing 'cool' to him. I wanted to be just like him, he was the perfect soccer player, and he liked me enough that he used to flatter me by telling me that I would surely succeed him as team captain. Weeeell one day he sat me down and he decided it would be clever to give me the 'sex talk.' He shared all his bullshit sex stories of his made up hook-ups and urged me that Mimi and I had been together for a month, so it was only fair to me that she gave herself already."

Davis whistled in amazement, and Tai only shook his head, his lips smirking cynically at his past foolishness. "Yeah well Akihiro convinced me that I had to persuade Mimi to have sex with me—even though I was totally not ready myself—but I never went through with it. Akihiro and I talked a lot about it through text messages too, he would always send me 'encouraging' text messages when I hung out with Mimi, urging me that I should 'bang' her and tell him everything about it after.

"Of course, when we texted I always agreed with him, told him I would do it, that she was stalling, etc., even though I never dared bring it up to Mimi—our relationship was really hurting from all the gossip at this point. And eventually, fearing that he would see me as lame for not screwing my girlfriend already, I lied to him; I told him I had done it."

Davis' wide-eyed expression was almost comical, and it gave Tai the reassurance to continue with his tale. "Well stupid Akihiro boasted to the cheerleaders how his prodigy Tai had finally banged Mimi Tachikawa, and of course the cheerleaders created an uproar. They blew up the gossip and stole my phone and showed all of my conversations with Akihiro to Mimi. Mimi, full well knowing that I was a lying bastard because we never did anything, took the matter to me and we got into a huge argument which ended in us breaking up.

"After that we were both too proud—or too afraid—to try to reconcile, and before we knew it we had erased each other from our lives and started fighting at every instant we happened to run into each other. So… yeah, that brings you up to speed to the present I suppose. A lot of this and a lot of that happened in between, but bottom line was that I never had the courage to reconcile."

Once again the silence overtook the locker rooms. Ideas after ideas were rushing through Tai's mind of how he could have handled that situation, but now it was too late. Back then he had been immature and weak and an idiot that fell under the influence of his peers. He wouldn't let it happen again, he swore, not with Sora or with Mimi or with whoever he was meant to be with. It was indeed how they say, hindsight is 20/20.

"Damn Tai, you really screwed up." Davis finally said with another long whistle, now that he was done digesting and understanding the extent of Mimi's and Tai's broken relationship.

"And the worst part was that I _really_ liked her, which made the fall even more painful."

"But—do you still like her?" Davis' tone was almost deflated, dreading the answer.

Tai shook his head, his lips forming a resigned smile, "That's the thing, I don't know. Sometimes she really gets on my nerves, but lately every time I see her she reminds me _so_ much of the person I used to be head over heels for. Sometimes I'm really attracted to Sora, and other times I constantly doubt that it's her I want. Is it possible to like two people at the same time?"

Just then their conversation was interrupted by the loud hollers of the soccer players as they began entering the locker room. Tai made to stand up from the bench they had been sitting on, and just before walking away he heard Davis reply in a small whisper, "Dunno. Ask your sister."

The older boy smirked and let out a loud, "Hey!" In her defense he would have added in that Kari never liked Davis to begin with, but decided it would be wise to leave it at that. Tai walked out of the locker rooms, noticing Davis' presence following him.

The hallways were slowly beginning to crowd with students walking to and fro their next class. Beside him Davis fell into pace with him, and they walked silently for a couple seconds until Davis cautiously added in, "Hey Tai, there's something I gotta tell you though—"

"Spit it out." There was a long pause and Tai was only left to give Davis an inquiring stare, to edge him on.

The younger boy avoided his gaze when he explained, "Well… Jet kind of conned me into telling him stuff about Mimi—"

"What—" Tai suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes darkening. "Explain. Now."

"I was pissed off at Mimi because—I mean… well you know. You see I thought she had started all those rumors, and I didn't know he was also going to declare war on you," Davis shrugged ever so slightly, his insides apprehensive of Tai's reaction.

"He declared war the moment he decided to run against me!"

"Yeah well I thought his beef was with Mimi, and honestly back then I didn't care, I was just mad because I thought she was causing all this drama. So yeah… I might have given him all material that he's been using against you—except for the photos though!"

"_Davis!_" This time Tai did give him a well-deserved smack in the head.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Mimi Tachikawa shoved open the theater doors with so much force that they bounced and slammed closed behind her. Her heart pumped fast as her mind raced through ideas of her retaliation. She would make Jet Suzuki pay for his intrepidity, that was sure. Her left hand still held a crumpled flyer which she kept with her, just to keep her anger constantly ignited, so that she daren't dream forgive him.

A couple unsuspecting theater techs passed by her as she trotted to Mr. Watanabe's office, their eyes on the floor lest she noticed them and chose to vent her anger on them. Walking behind the students was a young freshman who did quite the opposite however, and instead made to catch Mimi's attention. Kari fell into pace with Mimi and quickly said, "Mimi what is going on and what are you doing?"

The older brunette gave her an incredulous look, as if she couldn't believe somebody was actually trying to address her. Her nostrils flared and she arched an eyebrow as she asked with slight disbelief, "Please don't tell me you haven't read one of the million flyers in the school?"

"I mean—I know! But why would he do that or how did he do that—"

"He did it to stomp me! Why else!" Mimi exclaimed a little too harshly, letting her emotions get the best of her. She pushed open the theater office doors and was endlessly grateful that Mr. Watanabe was tardy, as usual.

Kari just stood rooted to the doorway as she watched in amazement Mimi log in to Mr. Watanabe's computer. "I can help you take the flyers down, if you want…" The matter not only concerned Mimi, but it also concerned her personally, since the flyers blatantly slandered her brother as well. When Mimi didn't answer, the young freshman took a single step forward and asked, "Mimi… what are you doing?"

By now Mimi had clicked her way through several MySpace and Facebook pages, in search of a photograph. "I'm going to Photoshop Jet's stupid girlfriend's photo—I know exactly how to fire back."

Kari eventually came up behind her chair in sheer curiosity, slowly uttering, "How…"

"Kari, for once the rumors in this school are true. Jet Suzuki does beat his girlfriend—aha!" Mimi exclaimed the moment she came across a bust photograph Yoko had taken of herself. "I saw it with my own eyes, Jet is abusive to her and she seems fine with it," the Sincerity Crest holder then inwardly noted that saying such a thing was a bit of a stretch, but in her current vexed disposition she did not care. "The school won't want to vote for a wife beater. I'm sure my apparent "plot" with Tai will pale in comparison to an abusive jerk that beats on his girlfriend."

Kari was silent for a second, making Mimi turn back to see if she was actually still there. The young girl had again retreated to the doorway, her expression darkening. "Mimi I don't think that's a good idea."

"It's a great idea! Kari you have to fight fire with fire." Mimi was now using Photoshop to airbrush bruises on the petite girl's face, neck, arms. "Jet Suzuki probably thinks I don't have the balls to do something like this, that's why he's pretending to be threatening. Keyword here is _pretending_. Trust me, it takes an actor to know an actor."

Kari's face grimaced at Mimi's words, yet in the back of her mind knew that Mimi was only saying these things because of her annoyance. The young girl still pressed on, however, for she was getting an uneasy feeling regarding the whole situation, "Mimi I think this is a very bad idea, just let it go, don't provoke someone like him."

Mimi's head whipped around, her stare overpowering Kari's. "Really? That's your suggestion? Let that lying bastard get away with it? He used a picture of me kissing Tai and plastered it all over the school!" In her mind her point had been made, so without further ado she turned back to the computer to finish her manipulation on the photograph.

"Fine. Go ahead. I don't want anything to do with this, though…" Kari gripped the wooden edges of the doorframe as she slowly retreated in resignation.

The older girl never noticed, instead she casually commented as a wicked grin spread upon her lips, "How many do you think I should print out? A hundred? Five-hundred?"

And with that Kari simply walked away.

**333**

**-Sora**

Their algebra teacher had stepped out for the past thirty minutes, giving them a vague warning about not getting too loud and finishing with their assignments before he left, a warning that no one really listened to. The few A students in the class remained seated quietly, focused on solving quadratic equations and graphing polynomials, whilst the remainder of the class left their seats and moved closer to their friends and chatted until their tongues fell out. Sora, however, was one of the few students that did neither.

The recent propaganda going around the school left her with a bitter taste in her mouth, and she honestly dreaded the moment she would run into Mimi, or even Tai, because she knew that if she felt this apprehensive about the flyers, she couldn't possibly imagine just how upset they would be. Sora doodled carelessly into every corner of her notebook, her mind on Matt and on Piyomon and on her memories from their Digimon adventure. Just now she wished she could have a laptop at her disposal, that she could connect with her life-long partner and share her insecurities.

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone sat on the desk that had been vacated next to her. She glanced to her side, giving the person a disinterested smile. Sora almost blushed when she realized this was the quiet boy that always sat two seats behind her, in the corner of the classroom. His solitary demeanor had always puzzled her, captivated her even, but she never before had any reasons to approach him or initiate a conversation. His stare on her persisted, until eventually he was the first to speak. "Those doodles aren't half bad, are you an artist?" He told her, leaning forward for a better look at her notebook.

Sora, moody and annoyed, gave him yet another smile before closing her notebook. "I wish," the girl replied before flopping down on her desk, half exhausted.

Suddenly a blond girl loudly threw two desks together, connecting them, and jumped on top of them as she began singing a song that was often overplayed on the radio. "Hey I just met you, and this is CRAZY—" The careless girl began chanting, and was soon joined by other classmates.

"But here's my number—" two basketball jocks joined in with her jest.

"So call me, maybe?" The girl continued with the song, receiving countless cheers from her classmates.

Sora watched, disbelief written all over her face. "Jesus Christ," the boy next to her breathed, equally astounded. The noise in the classroom only mounted, and Sora could not believe a single teacher from a neighboring classroom or the hallways hadn't yet heard their clamor.

"IT'S HARD TO LOOK RIGHT—"

Sora shared a helpless smile with the boy that sat next to her. He had hair the color of ebony and a pair of matching black eyes that shone with his charming smile. "Can you believe them…" he had to raise his voice, else his words were lost in the noise of the commotion.

"BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME, MAYBE?" Soon not only were the jocks singing, but also the rest of her classmates.

"Is our teacher planning on spending the whole period away?" Sora asked.

"Hey, I wouldn't mind," The boy's eyes were on the singing girl, though he had leant comfortably close to Sora, their desks almost touching.

The Love-Crest holder couldn't agree more. Inwardly she was glad for the diversion, for it took her mind away from the events that had happened to their group in the past couple of days. She just wished the distractions could last even through English period, when the worst always unraveled… The boy then turned his gaze onto hers, and something about the way he looked at her charmed her; perhaps she had puzzled and captivated him the same way he had captivated her? Sora was about to ask for his name, but he was the one to speak first.

"You're friends with Mimi and Tai, right?"

"HEY I JUST MET YOU—"

"Yeah," she didn't think she had ever seen eyes so black and intriguing before.

"SO CALL ME, MAYBE?" The whole class continued to chant, and now another girl had combined two desks, and was in the process of climbing up to sing.

His hand suddenly rested on hers, Sora's eyes landing on the place where their skins touched, and she felt the warmth of his hand envelop her cold fingers. "Are you close to them?" One jet-black eyebrow rose in confusion, and Sora suddenly noted that their desks were now touching. How had he gotten so very close?

"AND ALL THE OTHER BOYS, TRY TO CHASE ME—"

He whispered into her ear before she had time to register his proximity. "Does it not bother you that they're using you?"

Suddenly his ebony eyes didn't seem so captivating anymore. Her mind came crashing down to earth and Sora immediately felt annoyed of the stupid students hollering in their classroom and annoyed of the way he was so close she could almost feel his body heat. "What are you talking about?" She asked, slightly leaned away.

The boy got the hint, also leaning back, though she felt his fingers twitch on top of hers. Sora thought of withdrawing her hand, but the boy had begun speaking once again, "I've noticed you, Sora, and you seem to be a good person."

"YOU TOOK YOUR TIME WITH THE CALL, I TOOK NOT TIME WITH THE FALL—"

A crooked line formed between her brows. "I guess you don't know about their 'arrangement?'" The boy asked again.

"YOU GAVE ME NOTHING AT ALL, BUT STILL, YOU'RE IN MY WAY—"

Using her? Their arrangement? What kind of nonsense was this boy spewing? And he was mistaken if he thought that whatever gossip he was going to tell her would turn her away from her friends. The friends who saved her life, the friends that nearly starved to death with her, the friends she matured with. Sora was about to get to her feet and scream at her classmates to shut the hell up, but the boy continued to elaborate.

"Your friend Davis told me all about it. Mimi and Tai are only pretending to get along again because it benefits them. I'm telling you because Davis didn't seem to have to courage to tell you, but I could tell he wanted you to know." His ebony orbs were kind, and were all that stopped Sora from shoving him away from her. He seemed to care.

"How do you know Davis?"

The boy shrugged, "I play sports, he plays sports, I see him occasionally, and we talk."

"I BEG, AND BORROW AND STEAL, HAVE FORESIGHT AND IT'S REAL—"

"Why would Davis tell you anything about Mimi and Tai?" Sora's tone was a little more spiteful than she would have preferred, and she had to mentally remind herself that this boy was probably oblivious to the drama between their group, that he didn't deserve such a treatment.

Again, he shrugged as he replied, "I guess he couldn't tell any of you, for whatever reason. People have to vent somehow, you know." His attention was back at the two singing girls and Sora suddenly felt panicked that he wasn't going to tell her more.

She withdrew her hand from under his, placing it on top of her lap, and urgently asked, "Why would Mimi and Tai pretend, and how am I being used?"

When he turned back his eyes almost pitied her, she couldn't be sure. "Mimi wants to get with that boy Matt, from the Teenage Wolves, he hangs out with you all the time, I've noticed. And Tai has his eyes on you," this he said with a twinge of jealousy, making Sora believe that perhaps this boy was on her side. "Davis told me that if they stopped fighting each other they could get you and Matt to hang with them more. Don't you see it, Sora? They're playing some twisted match-making game. In the end Mimi gets Matt and Tai gets you."

"—HOT NIGHT, WIND WAS BLOWIN', WHERE YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING BABY?"

In the blink of an eye the boy stood from the desk. She wasn't sure what made her do it, but suddenly her hand was gripping the sleeves of his uniform blouse as she asked, "Wait, what's your name?"

"Jet Suzuki." He walked back to his desk and just in queue their algebra teacher stepped through the doors, hollering at the unaware students that were still chanting their song. This Jet boy, however, was already seated back on his desk before the teacher could notice.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Matt was an excellent partner. He was the type to listen to suggestions; the type to be submissive and silent while she expressed her ideas, though she never feared that she was controlling the project entirely, for she knew that he would interrupt if he ever disagreed with her. He was hard working and _brilliant_. Mimi chewed on her lip for an instant, her eyes briefly on him while he researched the Dutch East India Company on their history textbook. She kept telling herself all this, but then why didn't she feel anything more?

Mimi immediately looked away, afraid that he would catch her staring. Still, he remained focused on the textbook, and Mimi glanced up a couple times, finding it odd that her staring hadn't bothered him. Could he not tell how intently she was looking at him? _Oh, so you _want_ him to catch you staring_, a wicked voice told her in the back of her mind.

She wanted to make conversation, but their history project was going so well Mimi didn't think she could possibly interrupt him. Mimi absentmindedly flipped through the pages in her textbook, not really feeling up to finishing her part just yet. She came upon the first page by accident, and saw Joe's name scribbled neatly by the corner. This has been his old textbook. As if through an uncontrolled train of thought, she remembered Joe's words about Tai's infatuation of Sora being just caprice. But, it's not like you could choose who to like…

_Well aren't you choosing to like Matt_? That wicked voice taunted her, making her frown slightly. She wasn't choosing to like Matt! She'd always liked him! Mimi remembered the first time she ever laid eyes on him, when they were having their orientation the first day of their summer camp years ago, right before the adventure that would forever more change their lives. He looked so rebellious and tall and blond, she could just melt.

She remembered how he was friends with Tai, yet they would always fight. And Tai, he never turned down a challenge, and never backed down from protecting them. She remembered him being also so tall and strong and brave and_ funny_. Suddenly Mimi caught herself smiling, and her smile quickly did a double turn to a frown. What the hell was wrong with her! That annoying boy was the reason half her junior year had been ruined! She had no business daydreaming about him.

The class was interrupted when a student from the Student Council excused herself into the classroom. The treasurer, Mimi knew, whispered something quickly to the history teacher, receiving a nod before saying, "Hi everyone, I'm just here to pass out the flyers for the Spring Dance." She quickly went around and gave a flyer to each student, and just before leaving, told them with a smile "Please come out! We've been working very hard for this dance. Remember we'll be announcing the new Student Council body for next year during the dance, so come out!"

Mimi fingered the green flyer, smiling at the graphics that she had designed. Matt gave her a friendly smile, but without saying much turned back to his textbook. Mimi's brows furrowed a little; he was being particularly quiet today, and she couldn't help wondering why. Before she could open her mouth to say a word though, the bell rang.

"Finally, I was getting tired of reading about the Dutch scheming in Java," Matt puffed a little irritably as he packed his things.

The matter of the Spring Dance suddenly came to her attention. Who would he go with? "You're going to the Spring Dance, right?" The words were out of her mouth before she realized.

His blue eyes lifted up to meet hers, and she could read something in them… was it doubt? "You'll be mad if I don't go to see you get elected President for next year?" He tried to advert his annoyance with a little humor, but Mimi had caught on.

She smiled prettily, a little sad. "Assuming I win…"

"What's that? Mimi Tachikawa is unsure of being elected President?" He had snuck up to her, and poked her side deviously, making her jump in surprise and… in giggles. Matt chuckled, amused at her reaction, and promptly left the classroom.

The brunette took her time gathering her things, her mind still on the Spring Dance. Last year they had all gone together, though her date had been a senior from the theater group. Back then she was head over heels for Tai, but she remembered that during that time he had been too infatuated with a transfer student to pay Mimi much heed. Who would he go with this time? She wondered. _Surely not Sora!_ And in an instant she was fuming. Sora was too good for the likes of Tai. Sora deserved someone sweet and intelligent, someone that valued friendship above anything else, someone like Matt…

Mimi was feeling blue by the time she reached her locker.

She slowly snatched away the papers that stuck to her locker door, slightly annoyed. The hallways were now unrecognizable. It was like a jungle out here. Flyers slandering her were posted all over the place (courtesy of the cheerleaders _and_ of Jet Suzuki), along with flyers promoting the Springs Dance, and the flyers of Jet being a wife beater, her most recent work of art.

From the corner of her eyes she spotted Sora, and her spirits immediately lifted. In the spur of the moment, while she stood by her locker and a mass of bustling students separated her and her best friend, Mimi realized she didn't quite like Matt the way she did back when she first laid eyes on him. This whole time she had just been holding on to that childish infatuation she had of him back when he was boyish and rebellious. And it would be selfish of her to continue letting Sora think that she did. What if Sora wanted to go with Matt to the Spring Dance?

Mimi nearly waltzed cross the hallway, stopping with a smile by the unsuspecting red head. The moment Sora's stare came upon her though, she knew something was wrong. Sora rolled her eyes before burying her face into the depths of her locker, fishing for some unknown item. "How's your plan coming along, Mimi?" Her voice came out from the locker in an echo.

"Huh?"

Suddenly Sora withdrew from the locker and faced her squarely, motioning all around her before saying, "How's your plan of taking down Tai and Jet going?"

She must have been talking about the flyers. "Um, well, I made the one about Jet but I would never use a picture of us to slander Tai like that!" As if she ever wanted to talk about her failed relationship with anyone, let alone publicize it all over the school.

Sora gave her a long look and Mimi felt her enthusiasm deflate like a day old helium birthday balloon. "I know that you and Tai have been scheming together, Mimi."

Her mouth swung a little open, not yet sure of what to say. She waited, else she uttered the wrong thing.

"I know that all this time you two have been pretending to be friends again," her tone and anger seemed to scale with every word she spoke. "How can you two _act _to be friends around us? Around the group? We have been through so much more and the two of you are just letting your little failure of a relationship ruin all those ties we had!" Sora began walking away, but Mimi hastily followed right behind her, a solid-rock lump settling on the pit of her stomach.

She doubled back, noticing that Mimi was still walking behind her, "Oh but I forgot, you're an _actress_. It should come naturally to you to pretend to be ok around us. I hope hooking up with Matt is worth all the trouble."

At those last words Mimi stopped dead in her tracks, unable to follow Sora any longer.

**333**

**-Tai**

Their stupid revision project was finally done with. Today was the first day in weeks that they didn't have to rearrange desks at the beginning of class to make that abominable revision circle his English teacher was so very fond of. He felt like a bit of privacy had been returned to him. Not counting the plus side of not having to deal with Mimi glaring daggers at him continuously or Izzy breathing down his neck for not working harder on his writing. Either way, he was endlessly thankful that he could finally sit in the back of the classroom without having anyone bother him. He did hate English class, after all.

His content musings were interrupted when he saw Mimi walking in late to class. She had a downcast expression upon those honey eyes of hers that unknowingly made him frown. Suddenly, he had half a mind to beat this Jet Suzuki kid up, make him regret ever writing his name down on the ballot. The memory of the flyers still taunted him. Mimi managed to find a seat in the front and soon his attention was onto his English teacher, who had begun handing down the results of their writing project.

The teacher passed by him, handing him his paper after murmuring a, "You could have worked a little harder on this, Kamiya." Tai only scowled at the C+ she gave him. He probably could have done better if _she_ hadn't given him all four Digi-Destined that were in the class as his group members, but whatever, what did she know?

Towards the end of the class a girl from the Student Council came into the room, handing out flyers about the Spring Dance like the school wasn't infested with those already. She told them about the elections right before leaving, sparing Mimi and Tai a glance before making her exit.

Tai had been contemplating asking Sora to go with him to the Spring Dance ever since he saw the very first flyer a couple days ago. He could take her to a nice dinner before, or they could go walk by the pier after it was all over. Somehow, though, he knew that if she ever accepted his invitation it would be only out of friendliness, and not because she actually felt something for him. As much as he hated to admit it, despite all his advances, Sora didn't seem all that interested in him.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe all this annoying stuff that had been happening to him regarding Mimi and the elections would be the turning point of his bad luck.

Sora sat diagonally to him, though the desks weren't too far apart. He quickly scribbled on a loose sheet of paper,

"_Sora are you going to the Spring Dance? I need someone to go with and I thought we could go together…_

_- Tai._"

He nudged the boy that sat next to him to hand the note to Sora, who promptly complied. Tai watched Sora, almost holding his breath. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of Mimi across the room, who was leaning her head on her desk and had closed her eyes. She must have been thinking intently about something, because her brows were furrowing. Still he couldn't take his eyes off her; it was like he enjoyed studying her countenance and expression—

His thoughts snapped back to reality when the boy next to him poked him painfully on the ribs before handing him the sheet with Sora's reply. His mouth hung open at Sora's quick scribble, "_Tai don't talk to me._" _What the hell._ Why was she upset?

"_What's wrong?_" Almost at the speed of light Tai had slipped the paper right onto Sora's desk, bypassing the boy that sat next to him.

He looked up and caught Mimi's eyes on him, but the brunette promptly turned away, sitting up on her desk and turning her focus back to her notes. His eyes went back to Sora, but even after reading his note she refused to write something back. Tai fidgeted, thinking about continuing to ask her with more papers. She then reread his note, taking a while to finish writing her reply. Sora folded the paper and kept it under her grasp, and it didn't occur to him (until it was too late) that she was waiting for the bell to ring before giving it to him.

The loud explosion of the bell nearly startled Tai and, amongst the confusion of students getting up and their English teacher screaming out homework instructions, Sora was able to drop the note on his desk and disappear from the class, unnoticed.

"_Tai, I know you and Mimi have been playing best friends just so that you could hook up with me. To be honest I never thought you were this immature. And I'm not going to give you the satisfaction so NO, I'm not going to the dance with you. I'm not even going, at all_."

He crumbled the piece of paper, his pulse quickening in sheer anger. How did Sora find out? And his agreement hadn't been as _vile _as she was making it seem! It's not like his and Mimi's plan worked out very much anyways; they had been too busy fighting with each other behind closed doors for him to really try anything with Sora. He exhaled loudly, his senses suddenly clouding with anger.

His brown eyes settled on a certain brunette that had been taking her time packing her things. He glared at Mimi. How stupid of him to assume that she would ever drop this vendetta against him and that she would ever be on his side. Mimi had everything to gain and nothing to lose by turning Sora against him. Davis' voice suddenly resonated in the back of his mind: Mimi was Sora's _best friend_, he wouldn't be able to achieve anything if Mimi didn't let him. Oh and he just _knew_ Mimi was absolutely never going to let him.

He stomped his way to her desk, grasping her wrist and nearly dragging her to the hallway. "What the hell Tai!" Mimi exclaimed, half bewildered. She motioned at the binder she had dropped on her way out because of him, and Tai hastily picked it up, shoving it into her bosom.

"Why did you tell Sora I liked her?"

"What?"

"Mimi, drop the dumb act for once and just be straight up with me!" He dug his hands deep into his scalp, his eyes roaming the hallway as he grew weary of the spectators that had begun to gather.

The girl blinked several times, her mouth hanging open the slightest, and when Tai realized she wasn't about to reply he rounded on her, his face stopping dangerously close to hers. "Mimi I thought you wanted to drop this war you had against me. Well I hope you're satisfied; Sora thinks I'm a pig. This little arrangement that we had, it's over, ok? I'm sick of all the stupid drama. _Fine_. You win. Good luck with Jet."

And just as quick as he had come, he had gone, his eyes on the ground and his heart tearing from the inside out.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Mimi stood rooted to the spot, aghast. She watched Tai storm away, her heart racing and her eyes threatening to tear. Why was this happening? Sora was furious at her, and now she had shattered whatever bond she had been able to reconstruct with Tai. What was next? Were Joe and Kari going to turn on her as well?

She had a feeling that whoever told Sora made sure to twist their arrangement so that it sounded particularly noxious. Mimi suddenly shuddered at the thought and slowly began walking away from the scene. The hallways were considerably thinning as students began making their way home or to their extracurricular activities, though she failed to recognize the figure that followed her after witnessing her blunder with Tai.

Mimi thought of Tai and her heart did a funny jump. She remembered this feeling all too vividly; she had felt the same when her relationship with him slipped out of control months ago. Mimi only quickened her pace, knowing that if she stopped now to think about Tai she would just break down crying.

Students dodged around her as she strolled the hallways on her way to the computer lab. Maybe she could talk to Palmon before her Student Council meeting this afternoon. Surely seeing her Digimon partner would lift the cloud from her shoulders. Mimi peeked in through the door window when she finally reached her destination, and felt slightly elated to see the computer lab empty. She promptly opened the door and entered, unaware of the figure that had been following her quite conspicuously all along.

The door slammed shut loudly behind her, and Mimi jumped around, her cheeks flushing red in surprise. Jet Suzuki stood blocking the only exit, his dark eyes glinting maliciously while he held a stack of flyers in his hands. In two quick steps he had approached her, and he threw the stack of flyers onto her, papers flying wildly all around her. This were the flyers she had made to call him a wife beater.

"I'm going to ask you once, even though I already know the answer. I suppose I should be _fair_." His words left his mouth like venom, "Were you the one distributing this trash?"

"Of course I was!" Mimi nearly shrieked, her temper rising and not quite in the mood to deal with bully Jet. He began walking even closer to her, and Mimi didn't notice herself slowly backing away. "You think I was just going to stand idly while you showed the entire school pictures of me and my ex-boyfriend?" He raised those black eyebrows of his in amusement but she continued, not noticing that her back was now merely a few inches away from the wall behind her. "I'm not afraid of you, _Jet Suzuki_. You're just a bully that didn't get to stone enough birds during your childhood. Heh I know exactly the type of person you are, all bark and no bite—"

His eyes flashed dangerously and in an instant he had pushed her to the wall, pinning his weight onto hers until their faces were centimeters away from each other. "Oh no Tachikawa, you've no idea what I'm capable of. I already told you, if you're smart, you will stand down and stay out of my way, or else I will truly have to hurt you."

Mimi shuddered involuntarily, feeling her heart drumming hard in her ears. "The flyers? They were just a sampling of what was to come if you don't back the fuck off." Jet gave her one last push before stepping away and heading to the door. He grabbed the door handle and before pushing it open turned to her one last time, saying, "Oh and did you enjoy getting your ass chewed out by your best buddies Sora and Tai?" He chuckled in amusement, "There's more of where that came from if you don't withdraw from the presidential race."

Her knees weakened under her after he slammed the door shut behind him and Mimi crumbled to the ground in a weird mixture of relief and terror. Her heart continued to drill a hole in her chest and despite all her attempts to be brave and unafraid Mimi felt the tears streaming from her eyes. Oh what a fool she had been, she had been warned, and now she was the victim of her own careless decisions.

Mimi swiped the tears with the heel of her hand but it was all futile. She felt alone and powerless, and now she had picked a fight against this boy of questionable mental stability. Her group of friends was collapsing from within and it was all her fault. Her vendetta with Tai caused this. Davis couldn't stand the sight of her, Kari was weary of her, Sora didn't want anything to do with her, and now Tai _hated _her. How had it come to this?

She thought of Tai and her cries only turned to sobs. Why was she kidding herself? She _loved_ the boy. And her blind arrogance had pushed him away yet again, even after he had been kind to her, like when they were younger and inseparable.

Her sobs slowly became less erratic, and she closed her eyes, but the memory of what just happened made her shudder. His eyes, those black eyes of his, glistened in sheer delight when he had pushed her, when he felt himself hurting her spine and her skull; _he had enjoyed it_. Was she a fool for thinking she could take him? Maybe she should withdraw from the presidential race… After all, who did she have to back her up? Not her friends, certainly.

Tai would surely withdraw now as well, and if she withdrew, too, then Jet would win. She shuddered at the thought of letting that maniac run the school. Mimi took a deep breath; this was exactly what Jet wanted, to scare her into submission. Well she wasn't Yoko Konishi. She was Mimi Tachikawa, a _Digi-Destined_ who had been through so much worse than a petty presidential election.

Mimi rose from the tiled ground and wiped the last tears from her eyes. She couldn't talk to Palmon now, not with her bloodshot eyes. Mimi simply walked to the exit, her mind on a certain bushy-haired Digi-Destined.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	6. When the World Crashes Down

**_When the World Crashes Down_**

_Thursday_

**-Tai**

Some annoying cheerleader was breathing down his neck and murmuring rumors and ideas that he could use is his presidential campaign against his opponents, but Tai barely listened as they walked down the Odaiba High hallways. He didn't need ideas on how to beat neither Mimi nor Jet, for he had already made his mind up that after school today he would go to Joe and withdraw from the presidential race. The whole ordeal had left him with an unpleasant taste in his mouth, and he was truly afraid of the damage his stubbornness and childishness had caused on the bond he had with his friends, so it was time to end it.

Tai stopped by his locker to deposit his Japanese history textbook, and the cheerleader continued to giggle by his side, all the while telling him rumors upon rumors about Mimi Tachikawa. He was sure all of them were entirely untrue, and her proximity only added to his vexation. She touched his arm, giving him a smile as she murmured, "Tai you know you've got our votes." She leant closer, "Come on, let's have lunch."

He supposed she was so dense she didn't notice his glare. Before he could word his discontent and crush her spirits though, someone interrupted their exchange. "Hey Tai—" He turned and saw Matt approaching him, holding a packet of papers.

Tai was thankful Matt's presence made the cheerleader step back. "Hey Matt, what's this?"

Matt handed him the papers, "I just came back from tutoring with Ms. Ling. She asked me to give you your English project and wants to know if you'd like to have a tutoring session, too." Matt smiled once he saw Tai's sheepish smirk.

Tai scratched the back of his head, "Jeez, I'm gonna have to turn that down." He stuffed the returned English papers into the back of his locker, intent on letting it rot there for eternity. English would forever more be Tai's least favorite class, and all he wanted was a _barely passing_ grade; high enough that he wouldn't have to retake it next year and low enough that he didn't have to do that good of a job on assignments.

Matt laughed and made to turn away, but a sudden idea struck Tai (by now the obnoxious cheerleader was ready to resume her gossiping to Tai). "Wait Matt, let's eat lunch together."

Matt stopped, slightly surprised. Tai slammed his locker door shut, startling the unsuspecting cheerleader, and he brushed her off when he walked over to Matt. "See ya later, Aiko," Tai announced, not even bothering to spare her a last glance.

"Wait, you're eating with us now?" They walked together in the direction of the cafeteria, falling into pace with the many students making their way to the eating hall.

"Jesus Christ, she was starting to get on my nerves."

"I'm surprised." They got in line to get food. Today's special was a blob that resembled mushy rice along with a questionable lump of meat pie. "Tai when was the last time we ate lunch together?"

"Too long ago," To be precise, ever since he broke up with Mimi. Of course he wasn't about to tell Matt that had been the reason why he stopped. After getting their food they walked, holding their trays, back to the hubbub of tables and students. Tai saw Mimi sitting by herself in the far corner, and his mood dropped at the sight of her. He glared her way, his heartbeats accelerating, but made a detour and directed Matt to a table farthest away from her before Matt could notice her.

"Tai I saw the flyers Jet has put up against you and Mimi," Matt gagged when he took the first bite of the rice and Tai would have laughed at his blunder, but his mind was still on Mimi. "I had half a mind to beat him up for pulling that shit."

"Think you can beat him?"

"Hey I haven't gotten rusty at fighting… at least I don't think I have. Come on man, I'd crush him," this time Tai did laugh, remembering the many times he and Matt got into fist fights during their childhood and teenagehood. "So are there any plans to hang out this weekend? Last weekend was fun, I missed that."

Tai thought about it, despite all the drama with Mimi, hanging with the entire group had been a lot of fun. He thought about Sora and almost grimaced; would he be able to hang with them this weekend? "I don't know dude, maybe we should ask around to see what everyone wants to do, but I'm down." Maybe by then Tai could patch things up with the motherly red-head.

"That game of truth of dare though, _man_. Was it awkward or what?" Now it was Tai's turn to gag at the food and Matt laughed soundly. "You know Kari and T.K. are official now, and all because of that game?"

Tai spluttered his water, "For reals?"

"Yeah, every time I see T.K. I can't get him to shut up about Kari. Don't tell me she hasn't told you!" Tai pretended to be hurt by this, crossing his arms, and Matt laughed at him. "Apparently the game set off some hidden feelings or something. Think about it, if this keeps up we're gonna end up family."

"Well that's kind of inconsiderate of her not to tell her big brother she's seeing someone." The thought was kind of nice though; _T.K. and Kari_, he wasn't that surprised, and inwardly felt sorry for poor Davis. Tai should have seen it coming, yet he had still edged Davis on with false promises. Come to think of it, this whole ordeal was also his fault, not just Mimi's. Their sour feelings had poisoned the group as well, and now they were on the verge of splitting. Tai looked around, spotting Izzy eating alone with his girlfriend; Kari and T.K. sat together on another table populated with freshman; the same was with Joe and Cody and Yolei, they all sat in different tables with different people. And to think that only last semester they had all been eating together in the same table.

From the corner of his eye he spotted Sora while Matt was saying something he was half listening to. She tentatively made her way across the cafeteria to where Mimi was sitting. Tai tsk'ed, Sora _was_ Mimi's best friend, so even if he and Mimi had been caught red-handed at their stupid game, Sora wouldn't stay mad at her. His attention came back to the table when he realized Matt was saying something about Ken and Yolei.

"—I don't know why Ken and Yolei are stalling, it's pretty obvious to everyone," Matt had considerably quieted down after a minute, and Tai watched him play with the mushy rice. Something was bothering him, then as if on cue, Matt looked up and cautiously asked him, "When you and Sora kissed, did that set off hidden feelings, too?"

Tai laughed; oh how he wished it had, but unfortunately (and Tai had come to this bitter realization a while back) the kiss he shared with Sora hadn't even given him the butterflies. "Nope." He eyed Matt, "Come on Matt, we've played truth or dare a million times, that stupid game doesn't always initiate successful relationships, I mean look at me and Mimi." They laughed together. It was true, Mimi and Tai had been dared to kiss during one of their games last semester, and it was nice and all, but that was over now.

Matt's eyes were on Sora and Mimi now, and Tai watched him while he finished his food. Tai then realized he recognized that look in Matt's eyes, and while a part of him grew jealous, the other part of him that wanted to set things right with his friends made him blurt out, "Are you gonna ask Sora to go with you to the Spring Dance?" Sure, Sora had told him she wasn't going to attend, but surely, for Matt, she would make an exception.

The blond gaped for a second, and once he recovered he asked, "It is obvious? Erm—would it be obvious if I asked her?"

Tai shrugged, "Depends on how you do it." His chances with Sora had been null from the very beginning; it had all been in his head. He almost grimaced when he remembered Joe questioning him if he liked Sora, or Mimi. If he truly liked Sora that way, then why was he ok with saying, "I mean, I haven't hung out with you guys _that much_ to know if she likes you or what, you should have a pretty good idea by now though, otherwise you wouldn't be asking me. But whatever man, ask her out. So, do you think she likes you?"

The corner of Matt's lips tugged at a smile, but before he could answer they were distracted when they spotted Jet walking across the cafeteria holding a short girl by the waist. Tai recognized the girl's face; Mimi had distributed a picture of her bruised face all over the school merely days ago. "Hey how 'bout Sora and I help you guys get revenge on that douche?"

Tai doubted Sora would help him with anything, but he listened quietly anyways. "That guy doesn't know he messed with the wrong group. Maybe we should just give him a beating."

"Hey man two against one ain't fair."

"I'll just come for backup, not that you'll need any." And they laughed again.

**333**

**-Sora**

Everywhere she looked she saw pamphlets of the presidential candidates slandering each other. The unoccupied locker next to her was plastered with flyers pasted one on top of the other, and for once Sora made it her mission to snatch them all out, for she couldn't stand the sight of them. The flyers reminded her of the accursed Student Council elections and of all the drama that came along with it. She stomped her way to the trashcan and promptly crumpled them and dumped them all in the bin.

She was rounding a corner into a hallway on her way to the cafeteria and was forced to stop in surprise. All of the flyers that called Jet a wife beater in this hallway had been marked in bold, black marker with "_Courtesy of the losing team, AKA: Mimi._" This was undoubtedly Jet's doing, and it was when she was snatching all the flyers away from the walls and lockers that she came upon a sudden realization.

The boy that told her about Mimi's and Tai's 'truce' was none other than Jet Suzuki. The same guy who had slandered her friends publicly with lies, so why didn't it occur to her that he was also lying to her? Why didn't she connect the dots sooner? Sora felt like a fool for getting so worked up by his charming words and friendly countenance. But surely, it couldn't have been a lie, because neither Mimi nor Tai had made an effort to deny that they were playing matchmakers.

Sora comforted herself with the thought that she had been too disillusioned and disappointed at her friends for trying to scheme behind her back that she never stopped to consider Jet's motives. Surely she had not overreacted? Her musings continued until she had made her way to the school cafeteria, where she lingered by the entrance, her eyes searching for her friends.

To her eyes, Mimi almost stood out. The girl sat by herself in a faraway corner, almost downcast, and Sora felt angered and saddened at the same time. Her love for Mimi got the best of her, so she wandered into the crowd of people, dodging through tables and students. Mimi's eyes had been on her food, which looked cold and unappetizing, so she didn't notice Sora standing by her table.

Sora rounded the table and sat on the stool closest to Mimi. Mimi almost jumped, startled, the moment she realized Sora had joined her. A cough, then, "Hi Sora."

Sora's brown pools settled on Mimi's honeys, unsure on how to initiate the confrontation.

Her staring unnerved Mimi, it seemed, for the girl took Sora's hands in hers tentatively and whispered, "Sora—"

"Tell me the truth, Mimi." Sora quickly cut her off, before Mimi's tactics could charm her and make her forget why she was mad in the first place. "I want to hear everything from you."

Mimi chewed on her lip, took a deep breath, and explained everything. She told her about her crush on Matt, which she wasn't so sure about anymore, and how she knew she wouldn't get to hang out with him much anymore because of her fights with Tai. She told her how Tai approached her one day and proposed they make a truce, and how she suspected this truce was only because Tai was apparently crushing on her. She even told her how she and Tai made a rivalry out of whom Kari dated, and how she insisted on T.K. whilst Tai insisted on Davis. "—I've made everything worse for everyone, Sora… I was blinded by my hate for Tai, and I somehow convinced myself I liked Matt," Mimi's gaze wandered the cafeteria, stopping at the sight of a certain brown-haired soccer player sitting in a faraway table.

For a second Sora was speechless as she digested the predicament Mimi and Tai had gotten themselves in. "I can't believe you guys, _tsk_, this just sounds like a huge misunderstanding, Mimi. Like it can be fixed by simply talking." A part of her still felt sour because Mimi and Tai had dealt with the situation as if Sora and Matt were simply prices to be gained at the end of a long game. They had been childish and selfish and this is the price they paid. Still, Sora forgave her.

"It can't just be fixed! Davis_ hates_ me! H-A-T-E."

A smile tugged at the corners of Sora's lips. She followed Mimi's gaze and noticed that Tai and Matt were eating lunch together—now that was odd. "Davis doesn't hate you! _Come on_! He's just upset and jealous because all this time he liked Kari, but she just didn't feel the same way. It's not like you could influence the way Kari felt."

"What if I did?" Mimi crossed her arms and pouted. "And Tai…" Mimi's honeys glistened and Sora immediately felt alarmed she would cry.

"Mimi, what is happening between you and Tai?"

"Nothing." Mimi lied and glared at his direction.

Would Mimi ever get over Tai? Sora was starting to doubt it. Still she didn't want to bring him up; Mimi already looked on the verge of tears, and the slight mention of his name was sure to push her to the edge.

"I was an idiot for thinking Matt and I could ever be more than friends. That was just me being spoiled and selfish as usual. For some reason I was trying to rekindle the crush I had on him while we were in the Digital World, but it doesn't feel the same—" Mimi covered her mouth to stop a dry sob, but she continued nevertheless, "I realized it doesn't feel the same as what I felt for Tai, as what I felt for him back—back _then_."

Sora gaped, and her cheeks flushed red when Mimi turned up the intensity of their conversation up a notch by saying, "I was blinded, but now I see Sora, Matt really likes you."

"What—"

"Trust me, I've been spending all this time with him, like with the theater stuff, because I thought that if I was around him enough then I could get him for myself. I've noticed that he's not the same to me than how he is to you,_ really_," she let out a half laugh, half sob and the tears that were pooling in her eyes were quite noticeable by now.

"Mimi…"

The brunette took a deep breath to clear the water in her eyes before smiling sadly, "Sora I'm sorry, my selfishness messed everything up."

A loving smile overtook Sora's lips. The red head leant closer and cradled Mimi in an embrace. The two held each other for a while, Sora breaking the silence by saying, "It's ok Mimi, we all mess up. What matters is that you are sincere, and that you cherish us as much as we cherish you. I forgive you."

When Sora pulled away, she was expecting Mimi to light up, but the girl still had a somber look in her eyes. The minutes dragged on as both pretended to eat some of their food, until finally Sora couldn't mask her curiosity any longer. "Mimi?"

"Huh?" Mimi was startled out of her reverie and Sora smiled at the small pieces of rice that stuck to the side of her lips.

"What's on your mind?" Sora pointed at the rice, and Mimi wiped it off, her cheeks reddening. "I know something else is bothering you…"

By now the barriers between them had banished, for nothing could be as shocking and revealing as what they had just exchanged, so Mimi barely hesitated in telling Sora, "I've been thinking about withdrawing from the presidential race."

If Sora had been drinking anything she would have surely spluttered it all out. "You can't be serious! Why?"

"Well half of the reason is because I feel exhausted and bad for hurting our friendship—"

"I told you, it's ok! All you need to do now is go talk to Davis and he'll also understand."

Mimi snorted and Sora gave her an exasperated glare. Sora was about to make Mimi remember how badly she wanted to be Student Council President, was about to tell her that all the drama would have been in vain if she withdrew. Instead Mimi surprised her yet again by telling her all that happened with Jet Suzuki. Sora gaped and her jaw dropped lower and lower as Mimi told her how he threatened her multiple times, and by the time Mimi told her what happened in the computer lab Sora was fuming.

"His nerve!" Sora slammed her palm onto the table, making the leftover food in their plates rattle.

Mimi hesitated, then, "I just don't think I have the energy to keep fighting with the schemes and the drama, if that's what it takes to win." Sora wasn't sure on how to reply, so in her silence Mimi continued, "I know he's the one that told you about my deal with Tai, which is why I want to withdraw; I don't want him to continue hurting our friends with his schemes."

"Come on Mimi, the guy's obviously a huge bluffer. You can't let his empty threats get to you—" Just then their conversation was interrupted when Lina approached their table with a small lunch bag.

They smiled and welcomed her to sit. Lina wasn't much of a talker, so after they greeted her Mimi continued, "I feel like he's bluffing too, but he hits his girlfriend! I mean the guy's just fucked up overall."

Lina looked up from her bento box, "Oh you mean Jet?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah but he would be pretty stupid to even lay a hand on you; he knows he would have the wrath of our group on his ass if he ever attempted anything." Mimi and Lina giggled at Sora's newly-found sassy tone. "Mimi, don't give up. School would suck with someone like Jet as President."

"Yeah, you have my vote Mimi." Lina smiled up prettily at the two upperclassmen. Then the conversation shifted from presidential drama to much lighter topics, like the prospect of hanging out this weekend, and the three girls were back to giggling and gossiping about Lina's and Mimi's Spring Dance candidates, the matter of Jet completely forgotten.

**333**

**-Mimi**

The wind ruffled pleasantly the chestnut locks framing her face, her cheeks brightening with the heat. Mimi stood by the outer doors of the gym, her back leaning on the school's brick wall while she adsorbed the afternoon rays of light. Her spirit was somewhat relieved, and she almost felt like she had to peel herself from the wall, remembering why she was out here in the fields in the first place.

Her Student Council meeting just ended, they had discussed the details and protocol of the Spring Dance, and for once in a long time Mimi was actually looking forward to it. At first Joe didn't want to give her too many responsibilities, since she already had her hands full with the school musical and the presidential elections, but Mimi had insisted so much she left him no other choice. Mimi picked the dance theme and took charge of the decorations. Lillymon had inspired her, and so the dance hall would resemble a mystical foyer with overhanging, glittering ivy, faux fuchsia petals would line the walls, and she even thought of hanging paper fairies by the doors and refreshment tables.

Her thoughts were momentarily preoccupied with the mental images of the dance night, of the lights and the music and of the gleeful look in her fellow students' faces when they walked in and saw just how ethereal the dance would be. She unknowingly blushed while daydreaming just how perfect it all seemed in her head, and it wasn't until somebody loudly opened the door to her side that Mimi was brought back to reality. Tai Kamiya unceremoniously walked out of the door, not once noticing her presence, and made to jog towards the fields.

The sight of him immediately made Mimi remember why she was waiting out by the back door of the gym in the first place. Her voice cracked quite noticeably when she blurted, "Tai—Tai wait!"

Tai turned, half startled half confused, and Mimi's heart sank at the look he gave her. _Please come back_, she feared that he wouldn't want to speak to her, which was somewhat reasonable, and if he walked away now she would permanently lose whatever little courage she had gathered. Mimi thought about Sora's reassuring words and her breathing calmed a little.

She could tell he tried to scowl, but couldn't. "What are you doing here?" Tai looked around the fields, probably apprehensive that anyone might spy on their encounter, but it was empty; they were completely alone.

Mimi stood by the wall, one hand touching the bricks behind her while the other tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears. Tai looked flushed and tanned and wild under the afternoon sun, making her heart skip several beats. "I came because I want to talk to you," she replied with a little voice, her eyes peeling away from his countenance else he discovered all her newly-awakened feelings.

He took several steps closer, a small line forming on the skin between his furrowed brows. "Ok, go on."

Her teeth chewed painfully on her lips for a small second as she gathered her words. "I want you to know that I wasn't the one who revealed our truce to Sora."

"Who was it then?" He approached the wall and leaned against the red bricks next to her.

"It was Jet. He told Sora and made us look like a pair of selfish brats." She paused, then, "Well, I've been thinking about it Tai, and it was pretty selfish of us to make a deal like that."

Tai shrugged, "You call it selfish, but it was also about damn time we tried to put our differences aside, for our friends at least."

She shook her head and turned to face him fully, "No Tai, we did it for the wrong reasons. That's why it backfired. That's why we're still fighting."

His expression was absolutely devoid of emotion, making Mimi panic, for she wanted to have the slightest hint of what occupied his mind. His gaze was on the fields, past her shoulder—on anywhere but her.

"I was being sincere when I told you I don't want to fight anymore—"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted her suddenly, though his eyes were still on the grass behind her. Before she could recover from her bewilderment though, Tai took a step closer to her and elaborated, "I'm sorry for screaming at you yesterday."

She smiled sadly, though that emptiness in the pit of her stomach continued to haunt her. Mimi wanted so much more than just this, and she realized that standing so close to him in pseudo good terms was starting to become incredibly painful. She would be on his side, she decided, and so she told him, "But Tai, even though Sora is not mad at us anymore I don't think she likes you that way." Did Sora ever like Tai that way? Mimi didn't think she wanted to find out.

The small smile that tugged at the corner of his lips surprised her. "I know, she likes Matt," His growing smirk was contagious, and so she timidly smiled back in resignation. Without noticing, Mimi also began to subconsciously inch closer. She felt whatever tension there had been between them lifting and finally told him everything that happened with Sora at lunch.

He listened quietly, the gaze he had on her unnerving her. When she was done she just watched him, her head tilting to the side several degrees; he was growing amused at her tale, which puzzled her. "Tai…" She would have asked, but waited patiently, just so that she didn't seem like she was demanding a reaction.

He ruffled the back of his hair and chuckled, "You know this is a bit ironic. I had lunch with Matt—"

"I saw," Mimi interrupted with a pinch of playful sass in her tone.

He clicked his tongue and smiled boyishly, "He told me he was going to ask Sora to the Spring Dance." The way he looked at her told her he relished in her reaction, "He pretty much told me he liked her. Like, _really_ liked her."

Their eyes were captive of each other for several quick seconds until finally the two laughed in unison at the irony of their situation. "We went through—we went through all this trouble to try to get with them, and they are the ones—they're the ones that end up hooking up!" Mimi laughed soundly, doubling over for breath.

"I know right! I think we make quite formidable matchmakers," white teeth flashed past a crooked grin and all Mimi wanted was to get closer to him. "If you ask me, I'd say Kari and T.K. were our doing as well—"

"Nah, if it were for you it'd be _Kari and Davis_," Mimi put her hands on her hips, neither noticing how he was beginning to draw so very near…

Their laughter and smiles banished and it was then that Tai told her, "Mimi I've been thinking about withdrawing from the presidential race." Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows rounded, "I ran against you for the wrong reasons; I don't know what possessed me to think that I truly wanted to become Student Council President."

Mimi suddenly became aware of their proximity. She leant against the brick wall, and Tai stood right in front of her, inches away from her. Her heart pumped hard and a lump settled in her throat as her senses became overwhelmed with his scent, with his eyes, with his closeness. He used her silence to search her eyes, until eventually he whispered, "I don't know though, to be honest sometimes I don't regret it."

Mimi didn't notice, or rather, didn't want to notice how their faces drew nearer. They were so close she could see the detail in those brown irises of his; she could smell the toothpaste in his breath; she could feel the heat coming off his skin. She looked up, her stomach performing phenomenal acrobatics, and drew the courage to ask, "Why did you run against me, then?"

His fingers lingered millimeters away from her chin; she could tell he was exercising incredible amounts of self-control not to touch her. He shook his head, "I guess I was sick and tired of you ignoring me all the time."

Mimi gulped soundly, her heart now racing. So many feelings were pumping through her veins; anything could happen now, they were so close the impossible would become possible. She recognized the determination that flashed across those brown irises and in the spur of the moment Tai leaned forward, his lips almost feathering hers—

The heavy gym door croaked open loudly and Mimi and Tai jumped away from each other like startled felines. Mimi turned completely away from him, her face shining red from the heat and from what almost happened. Her eyes traveled over at the door, her breathing heavy, and she couldn't help but smile at the irony when she saw Davis standing by the doorway with a goofy, oblivious expression plastered upon his face.

"What—oh hey Tai I was looking for you," Davis smiled and waved, until his eyes came upon the second person standing behind the door, "Mimi?"

Tai just chuckled in sheer disbelief.

"I have to go erm… plan… things." Mimi barely spared Tai and Davis a final glance as she rounded on the door and scurried away into the hallway, immediately fleeing the scene.

**333**

**-Davis**

Tai and Davis wordlessly walked over to the bleachers the moment Mimi disappeared into the school. It was only after the silence began weaving a sort of invisible tension between them that Davis handed Tai one of the bottles of Gatorade he had brought. His own bottle was half empty by now. Tai welcomed the drink graciously and the two leaned by the fence in front of the bleachers while they waited for their team members to gather in the soccer field.

It wasn't until several minutes had passed that Davis felt it was safe to ask, "So, what's up now?"

"There's always something up between me and Mimi, isn't there?" There was an edge to his tone that made Davis step back a little.

"No I mean—I don't mean it that way—"

"I'm going to ask her out to the Spring Dance," Tai suddenly announced.

Davis spluttered his drink all over the fence in front of him, and for several long, painful minutes he coughed loudly and desperately, as the drink had gone into his respiratory track by accident in his blunder. He heard Tai doubling over and laughing loudly at his disposition, but eventually the older teen smacked his back a couple of times until Davis quieted down. "Are you mental?" He finally exclaimed after a few more coughs, his face red and his nose runny.

Tai watched him, amused, but didn't answer fast enough, so Davis bombarded him with questions. "What about Sora! What about your beef with Mimi! What about all the drama she put you through!"

"I don't know why you're so surprised."

"You're right, I shouldn't be." Davis crossed his arm and the two were silent while they watched members of their soccer team pool by the field. The girls' team had also begun to gather outside, though Sora was lost amongst a crowd of giggling females.

"It's getting harder and harder for me to hate her, you know?" Tai worded half mindedly.

"No, I don't." Tai would have bet that if he turned to look at Davis, the boy would almost have a pout on his lips. "In fact, I didn't have a problem hating her."

Tai faced him, his eyes now serious, "Are you still mad at Mimi?"

"No."

"Come on man! Then are you just mad that if I invite Mimi to the dance you'll be the only one flying solo?" Tai sniggered and Davis glared.

" . Very funny. I'm not mad. I'm just confused as hell."

"Welcome to my world."

A small cloud hovered under the setting sun, making the breeze that enveloped their sweating bodies feel all the more pleasant. Their coach finally exited the school, noticing Tai and Davis by the fence and motioning them to come closer for their training to begin. They unceremoniously left their spots, Tai elaborating before soccer practice washed away his excitement, "This feeling, I've felt it before… It was the same back when Mimi and I were together." He turned to Davis fully and asked, "Davis, do you know what it's like to be in love?"

Davis gave him a weird look, a weird you're-out-of-your-bloody-mind look, "No, I don't think so…" He thought about Kari, but decided that couldn't have possibly been love. "No man." Then he rolled his eyes and stopped Tai halfway by grasping his shoulders, "_Don't_ tell me you're—"

Tai just smirked, his eyes wild and excited.

Davis let go of his shoulders and hurried towards the huddle of soccer players, murmuring, "Whatever floats your boat, man."

**333**

**-Mimi**

She was going mad, she was sure. Mimi paced the Odaiba High hallways, fuming at herself for what had just happened. She almost kissed Tai! Tai Kamiya! Her sworn enemy, presidential opponent, and _ex-boyfriend_! And the worst part was that she actually wanted it to happen, and _badly_. Her heart had clenched uncomfortably when Davis interrupted their spell, when she had to scurry away with her tail between her legs, blushing and embarrassed.

Her mind raced with thoughts and feelings she no longer cared to hide or deny. Everything she had felt ages ago when Tai was hers came rushing back, the emotions fresher than ever. Suddenly, she craved for his kiss. Mimi held herself, her hands crossing and grasping her arms. She stopped her mad dash, sighing in bliss. She wanted to go back, to run to him and confess her feelings, but how could she possibly dare? After their terrible break up and the constant fights, how could she possibly expect that he would remotely feel the same?

Why did Tai have to confuse her so?

Her footsteps resonated loudly as the hallways were now desolate. Mimi slowly walked past the weight room and the girls' changing room, her eyes noticing the flyers upon the walls. The gym hallways were mostly populated by Tai's and Jet's supporters, so their flyers dominated this part of the school. The sight of the many pieces of paper against her should have affected her more, but the memory of what she had just experienced reverberated in her head like a broken record, so her spirit grew with mirth and strength. She felt like nothing could bring her down.

She merrily walked past an opened door and stopped suddenly when she recognized a cruel voice reverberating from the inside. Mimi peeked in by the doorframe, frowning at the sight of Jet and Yoko in the empty basketball court. Jet was towering over his petite girlfriend, bellowing curses and insults while he shook her by the shoulders. Mimi's mood changed at the sight of him, though she no longer felt afraid of him. Her exchange with Tai had filled her insides with a sort of blissful high, and she couldn't stand watching Jet bully someone any longer.

"—_you never listen to me, you good-for-nothing piece of shit girl_—"

"Let her go you asshole!" Mimi gallantly stepped into the basketball court, her nose and chin up high in a haughty manner.

Almost immediately, Jet dropped his hands from Yoko's shoulders, but now his sadistic stare was on her. Mimi wasn't fazed, however; right now she felt capable of moving mountains, and in the greater scheme of things Jet was nothing more but an insignificant ant. Much like he had done before, Jet took several quick steps her way and was on her face in an instant. "I would pity you, but you don't deserve any," Mimi spat.

He had an ear to ear grin when he slurred, "Oh I'm the one that needs pity? No, little princess, you're the one."

Mimi spared Yoko a quick glance to make sure she was ok before also nearing him. "Why is that?" She sneered.

"You're treading on dangerous grounds, now why don't you do everyone a favor and get lost? Nobody needs you here." She noticed Yoko withdrawing from the confrontation, slowing walking around them and towards the door.

Mimi crossed her arms, her heart pumping in anger and failing to notice the edge in his voice, "Nobody needs me here? I'd like to think Yoko would disagree with that. Leave her alone you ass—"

"_Leave her alone_? Why? If she comes running back to me each single time! '_Jet take me back, come on, hit me, I deserve it! I'm just a stupid skank who's only worth fucking!_'" He bellowed in a mocking voice, inching closer and closer to Mimi until she could almost smell his breath.

Mimi felt repulsed of his face, of his proximity, of the jeer in his voice, and did the first thing that crossed her mind. She scowled and made to shove him away from her, and in a moment's instant realized her mistake. Jet reacted to her aggression instinctively, his right hand curling into a fist and catching her left eye in a forceful hook. Mimi staggered and fell on her bottoms, somebody screeched in terror, and all she saw were stars.

Her senses were overwhelmed by the numbing pain on the side of her face. She breathed heavily on the floor, her hands clutching the spot where he hit her as tears materialized in her eyes. Mimi doubled over on the ground, holding her face for dear life, and she choked between frantic sobs and desperate gulps of air.

"_Fuck_," she heard Jet whisper beside her, and somewhere far away Yoko continued to scream and chant "_oh my god oh my god oh my god"_ over and over in frantic wails. Mimi heard footsteps and she barely opened her right eye in time to see Jet dragging Yoko away from the basketball court, scampering out the door and out of sight.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	7. The Challenge Ends

**_The Challenge Ends_**

_Monday_

**-Tai**

The mass of students that was generally present at the cafeteria during lunch was considerably diminished during breakfast time. Only a handful of students crowded the odd table every here and there, and the line to the food was almost inexistent. That morning Tai nearly skipped his way to the trays and the food, quickly ordered the French toast and the orange juice, and was seated in the closest table. Needless to say, his haste was due to the fact that Tai was always hungry.

His solitude was brief, for merely minutes later, Davis was following his lead. The only difference was his tray, which held the scrambled eggs, mini waffles, and a chocolate milk box. The two teens engaged each other in a grunting match as a greeting when Davis sat down then proceeded to devour their breakfasts.

It wasn't after both had gotten up for seconds and had devoured them that they allowed themselves to lean back and relax. Tai eyed Davis, and in turn was eyed back. "Sup," Tai nodded at the younger version of himself, his left hand rubbing the food baby that was his bloated stomach. Davis nodded back.

"That was good."

"Yup."

"Man, was I hungry."

The silence between them stretched while Davis picked at the food between his teeth and Tai burped. Then, Tai was the first to initiate a conversation, bringing up what had been bothering him all weekend, "Mimi didn't come out on Friday, or Saturday… or Sunday…"

Davis rolled his eyes at Tai's expression. It was true though, Mimi hadn't been present when they went to the pier on Friday, or when they visited the mall on Saturday, or when they had lunch at his house on Sunday. All Digi-Destined had been present, all with the exception of Mimi. Personally, Davis wasn't the least fazed by that fact. Of course Tai was a whole different story.

"Maybe she found out that you plan to ask her out to the Spring Dance. If you ask me she's probably avoiding you," Davis smirked at the pained look upon Tai's face.

"You wouldn't—" Tai's eyes were tempted to glare at his direction.

"_Relax_. Does it look like I like to gossip to Mimi Tachikawa? Last time I had a conversation with her she told me to piss off, told me to run along or I'd be late to class."

"Face it, Davis. You just don't want me to go with Mimi to the Spring Dance cause then you'd be the only one dateless." Tai smirked, Davis belched, and both proceeded to glare at each other for a split second. Their exchange was interrupted when a flustered girl suddenly sat next to Tai. Both teens were momentarily startled to see Kari slump herself onto their table. She was never around this part of the school so early in the morning, for she usually hung in the theater with Mimi and the rest of the theater nerds.

"Kari—surprise seeing you around these parts. Don't you have a theater to attend to?" As much as he hated to admit it, Davis knew Kari's schedule like the back of his palm. Mostly because he had been so used to trying to be around her. All that was in the past now, though.

The girl gave them a miserable little look, and it was then that Tai noticed her disheveled appearance and the worry in her eyes. The protective side of him immediately flared up, images of boys perturbing her peace suddenly popping up in Tai's mind. "Is something the matter, Kari? Did someone fuck with you?"

She let out a mixture of a whimper and a laugh. "No—I just—I just want to get away from all the drama. I feel like I'm in a TV show. Why is all this happening?"

"Welcome to my world—" Davis tried saying but was cut off by Tai.

"What do you mean?" Tai grasped her shoulders and brought her closer to him.

"How do you live with it, Tai?" Her eyes were glossy, making Tai frown even more.

"Easy—Tai and Mimi are dramatic people, they do it for a living—"

"For the love of God, Davis!" Tai interrupted him again. Davis' japes were beginning to get under his skin. He turned to his sister, fully, and forced her to look him in the eye. "Tell me, what's happened?"

Kari gulped, her eyes rounded, and she murmured, "Mimi came to school with a black eye." Tai just gaped. "But she wouldn't say what happened! No matter how much I asked her!" She turned away from her brother, slumped herself against the table once more, and whispered to herself, "Seriously, I'm done!"

Tai's chair screeched loudly under him and his empty plates rattled when he abruptly rose from the table. He didn't care to spare Kari or Davis a final glance as his feet took him out of the eating hall and towards the hallways, the theaters his final destination. The people around him passed his line of sight like blurs as he sped past classrooms and lockers. Some waved and called out his name, but he couldn't be bothered. His mind raced as he tried to picture Mimi's face; her milky skin and honey eyes, tarnished by a bruise on her eye. His blood seethed as he could only imagine a single culprit.

_Jet_.

The art hallways were empty, so he was never once bothered as he pushed open the double doors that led to the main theater. It was very early in the morning, so he was not surprised to see the theater empty with the exception of the lonely figure that fuzzed with the fake leaves on a cardboard tree. The girl tensed at the sound of his footsteps. He noticed her put something on her face, and with her back still to him, heard her say, "The theater is closed now. Please come back later."

His footsteps sounded like hammers upon the ground to him as he walked closer to her, and his heart attempted to tear a whole on his chest when he said, "Mimi?"

She sucked in the air at the sound of his voice and scurried behind the cardboard tree, pretending to be working on the materials behind it. He caught up to her in an instant. Her body avoided him, but he gently grasped her wrist and spun her around. His eyes met a large pair of dark sunglasses.

He would have smiled at her appearance, were they in a different predicament. Chocolate eyes searched her face, but she was looking down at the ground. "Mimi! Cut it out!"

"Tai, please…"

"'Tai please' what?" Tai snatched the sunglasses away from her face and his mouth almost dropped at the sight of her face. A purple circle had formed between the bridge of her nose and her eye. The swollen upper lid of her eye was folded over, so that the honey iris within it was barely visible. Her lower eyelid and cheekbone had also swollen to that unmistakable hue.

A sort of delirious panic bred deep within his stomach and traveled up to his heart. A feeling that was as much rage as it was distress. He wanted to smash someone's head in, wanted to hurt and maim whoever dared lay a hand on this girl, wanted to hold her, to kiss her eyes until the swelling magically went away. Tai swallowed his rage and, in a tone as cold as ice, asked, "Who did this to you?"

She shook her head dismissively, "What does it matter? Why do you want to know so badly?" He could tell her dismissal came from the fact that they were no longer together, that they were now nearly strangers—barely friends. But— "I care about you, damn it! That's why!" There, he'd said it. He was done pretending that he didn't. Right now all he wanted was to comfort her, to bring her in an embrace, and to bring hell on whoever had done this to her.

Her teary eyes had rounded in surprise, but eventually her mouth curved upwards into a small, sad smile. Tai's hand traveled to the back of her hair while his other hand circled her waist. He slowly brought her forward, and Mimi's arms circled his bigger frame, welcoming his embrace. He held her there, feeling her body tremble in silent sobs. The anger inside him bubbled painfully, but he kept it shut in a small box; kept it nice and safe for the asshole that dared hurt her.

"I know, I might have tried to deny it to myself over and over, but it's true. I care about you, Mimi. Despite everything that's happened," he chuckled, then, "We saved the world together, how could I not care about you?"

Mimi gulped loudly as she slowly pulled away. The tears only made her eyes shine the color of caramel. Even in the dim light of the stage, Tai detailed her. His gaze traveled over the purple in her skin, and he dared to gently caress her bruised cheek bone with his fingers. He wanted to kiss her, but instead he took a deep breath and stepped back, afraid that she now would push him away.

"It was Jet—"

"How?" Tai knew it all along. Why had he even bothered to ask? The anger was now threatening to burst out of the box…

"Friday… I ran into him and his girlfriend, he was abusing her as usual, and I stepped in. I provoked him, I guess."

"'_You guess_?' I don't fucking care how much you provoked him. He's a piece of scum for ever laying a hand on you!"

Her lips quivered, and she almost looked afraid. The fear on her face only fed the rage inside him. Tai began pacing in front of her until her hand shot out and grasped his, making him stop. "Jet is a monster. I don't know if I can continue running against him, Tai. He schemes and he plots and he _enjoys_ hurting people."

His eyes narrowed, but his glare wasn't intended for her. "Mimi, I'm going to murder him." The box was spilling, the bubbling anger pouring out and searing his esophagus.

"No!" She brought him forward for another hug, only this time Tai never wrapped his arms around her. "This is why I didn't want to tell Kari… I don't want you to do anything rash—"

Just at that moment her words were interrupted by the loud ringing of the bell. The sounds echoed throughout the empty theater, and Tai gave her hand one last squeeze before breaking free of her embrace. He jumped down the stage before she had any time to react, and his jogging feet took him out of the theater in a matter of seconds. He walked fast, though his movement was hindered by the tide of students walking to and fro every possible direction.

Her teary countenance flashed across his mind, and that anger that was hungry for an outlet was only fueled. Tai pressed on, walking against a juggernaut of people. He turned a corner once, twice, and the devilish rage inside him celebrated in mirth when he spotted Jet standing by the lockers and chatting with a group of people. His arm circled the waist of that small girl while he stood oblivious to Tai's presence.

An odd calm overtook him. Tai closed the distance between them, the corner of his lip tugging at a smile. Eventually Jet noticed him, though he was initially fooled by Tai's newly found serenity. The black haired boy released hold of the petite girl and approached Tai, his lips smirking. "Tai Kamiya… I'm assuming you already know?"

Tai stayed silent, watching him. Perhaps he believed Tai was still at war with Mimi, or that he was still stricken with his past dislike towards her. Either way, Jet mistook Tai's small smile for something else and continued, "Honestly she deserved it; the bitch is always trying to get into everybody's business—"

Whether or not he had anything else to say, no one ever found out. At that instant, the calm and the anger reacted violently within Tai, and a blind rage overtook him. Tai's fist curled forward and caught Jet's left eye in a straight punch. The boy crashed against the lockers with full force and in an instant the entire hallway erupted in hollers and shouts of people screaming and cheering. _Fight, fight, fight_, they ranted.

Jet recovered and lunged at Tai. His left hand shot forward for a jab, but Tai was quick enough to avoid him entirely. Tai utilized his proximity for an uppercut that made contact with Jet's chin and nose, and sent him once again crashing against the lockers. Beside them Yoko screeched and cried and almost tried getting in front of Tai, but Jet shoved her out of the way the moment he recovered. She crashed against several witnessing students and crumpled onto the ground.

Tai smirked, admiring the blood that had begun trickling down Jet's nose. This boy was taller than him, but he lacked the agility and fighting experience Tai had acquired throughout his unruly years. "You worthless bastard, I'll kill you next time you even try to lay an eye on Mimi," Tai grew confident, laughing loudly as the crowd chanted, "fight, fight, fight!"

Jet swiped the blood and charged forward with a yell. Tai had been so distracted by his victory that he didn't move in time for his dodge, receiving the full force of Jet's right uppercut on the stomach. He doubled over forward as the world went black for a split second. Jet held him between pants as his air had been knocked out of him, and the boy began to punch the side of his face with his other fist over and over and over and _over_.

Tai's vision was beginning to blur, but Jet's punches where incessant. Somebody was screaming to his side; he recognized that voice, and the image of Mimi's fearful and bruised countenance flashed across his mind once again. The rage returned and gave him the strength to shove Jet forward. Without breathing or pausing, Tai pounced on Jet and was on top of him on the ground. He hooked him once, twice, then his hands found his way to his neck. The world was spinning around him and all he cared was to keep Jet pinned down, to keep him under him and strangle him until the world went black for him as well—

Suddenly he was pulled back by the shoulders and hair by two massive figures behind him. The noises in the hallway and the light kept him confused and disoriented. His blurred vision was able to make the outline of Jet also being pulled up by two teachers. The unknown figures that held him screamed in his ear, "Enough! Enough!"

Tai blinked and, just as he was being dragged away by the two adults, he caught sight of a pair of sparkling, honey eyes. He smiled; how beautiful she looked. Even in a crowd of excited people, she stood out like a beacon to him. His smile only widened; she was safe now.

**333**

**-Mimi**

Everywhere she went, friendly smiles and encouraging words were sent her way. Mimi felt flustered, but the fervent whispering going around the school soon reached her ears as well, and she knew why everyone suddenly loved her. Today's events had gone public in a matter of seconds: Mimi's assault by the vicious Jet Suzuki and how the fearless and courageous Tai Kamiya had avenged her honor quite publicly this morning at the sound of the first bell.

Mimi approached the cafeteria and walked past a group of students that were snatching Jet's propaganda away. They smiled her way while they dumped the flyers onto the trash bins. She smiled back, the bruise on her face only confirming the frenzied rumors. They gave her shallow words of encouragement and told her how they were surely voting for her now.

Mimi couldn't help but smirk as she waltzed into the cafeteria. Punching her turned out to be the stupidest thing Jet could have done for his campaign. Alas it had hurt, but now Mimi was a martyr and Tai a hero, and Jet was left as the pitiless wife beater Mimi had unmasked days ago.

Her musings ended once she caught sight of a familiar group of people sitting on a nearby table. Joe, Sora, and Lina welcomed her to the table in a mixture of relief and surprise. Sora was wide eyed and worried, Lina gasped audibly, and Joe chuckled quite conspicuously as he said, "So the rumors are true…"

"Joe!" Sora punched him in the shoulder.

He held up his hands in defense, "I'm sorry! It's just so hard to believe! I'm still in shock!"

"It's ok," Mimi smiled sadly. Today had gone from bad to worse, and Mimi feared for Tai's wellbeing, but the memory of him pouncing on Jet brought a weird feeling to the pit of her stomach. Was it worry? Insecurity? _Love?_ Tai cared for her; cared enough to confront Jet in a bloody fist fight, and how she wished she could be with him right now. But the teachers had dragged both boys away to the nurse's office and had prohibited anybody from getting anywhere near the ward. They both had a one-way ticket to the principal's office, it was well known, but neither had emerged from the nurse's yet.

It was then that something bizarre happened. Their table became thoroughly populated as one by one, Kari, T.K., Davis, Cody, Yolei, Izzy and his girlfriend, and Matt sat all around her. All the Digi-Destined that had this lunch period came and crowded around her. They bombarded her with questions, hugs, smiles, _food_, so her senses were overwhelmed with the joy of seeing them all together, sitting with her; as if they hadn't been split merely a week ago. Then, they urged her to retell the tale of Jet Suzuki's downfall. All eyes were on her as she spoke, but her newly found happiness was whisked away the moment she had to tell them about Tai. After all, she had been the only Digi-Destined to witness his fight.

There was a short silence that was only broken by Joe, "Actually Mimi, I just came back from the principal's office… you know, these are one of the perks of being Student Council President—you can be around in moments like this—"

Mimi shook him by the shoulders forcefully, "What's happened then?" Her voice shook in apprehension.

Joe had to peel her hands away from his shoulders. "They're ok—well Tai more so than Jet," he smiled, then in a softer, matter-of-fact tone added in, "It's well known by everyone that Tai won the fight."

"Yeah but what's gonna happen with Tai!" Sora was also growing impatient at Joe's casual side comments.

"I was outside the principal's office when he told them that they were both banned from the elections. OH YEAH! And they're both suspended."

The table erupted with questions upon questions by the other Digi-Destined, and Mimi was about to ask about the Spring Dance, because being suspended and banned from elections also surely meant—

Just then somebody approached her side of the table, interrupting the teens' assault of questions on Joe. There was immediate silence once they realized it was none other than Yoko Konishi standing by Mimi. Mimi looked up and glared, the memory of Yoko simply watching as Jet assaulted Mimi still fresh in her mind. "What do _you_ want?" A growing dislike towards Yoko bred deep within her; the only reason they were in this predicament in the first place was because Mimi had actually felt sorry for the girl. Her sympathies had always gone to waste, however. She was not about to commit the same mistake again.

"I—can I speak with you for a second—privately?"

"What?" Her bruised eye observed her with mounting distrust.

"Please—it's about Jet—I want to set things right," the girl's lower lip was trembling, and Mimi realized she just didn't have the heart to turn her down any longer. This could be some sort of trap for all she knew, but alas something within her always made her try to comfort this pitiful girl.

Mimi gave her friends one last look before following Yoko into the vending machine room. There was a pause between them, then, "I'm really sorry Mimi. I didn't think things would get out of hand like this."

Mimi just glared.

"I promise you I never had anything to do with his plans… he never asked any advice from me… he probably thinks I'm below that."

"You are his elected Vice-President." There was still a hint of sass in Mimi's voice.

She sighed and fuzzed with her hands for a small moment, then her blue eyes met Mimi's. The tears had begun to pool there. "What you have to understand about Jet is that he doesn't have many friends—doesn't have _any_ friends. He doesn't trust anybody…" she broke eye contact and Mimi saw the tear that traveled down her cheek. "He doesn't trust me, but knows he can control me—"

"He knows he can just punch you around a little bit and you'll do everything you're told?" Mimi couldn't help herself. Her mind only replayed that moment in the basketball court, when Jet's fist came in contact with her face, and Yoko did _nothing_.

Yoko had leaned back on the wall next to a soda vending machine; her hands hugged her body together, as if she was ready to fall apart at any moment. "Yes." She looked down. "That is why he wanted me as his Vice-President. But… I just can't stand being with him anymore…" It was then that the full force of Yoko's tears was unleashed, and the girl almost crumpled to the ground, but Mimi was right there, holding her.

"I really—I really wanted to do something—I promise—on Friday, when he hurt you, but I was so—I was so terrified that the same would happen to me if I uttered a single word," she continued saying between sobs. "It's so hard to even think about breaking up with him—I feel like I love him, but I can't stand how he makes me feel like dirt."

Mimi's heart broke, too. It was as if she was absorbing every emotion this girl was feeling. As if she could taste her misery, her pent-up emotions… And she was speechless, so she allowed the girl to vent.

"And I'm so afraid that if I ever bring up the notion of breaking up he will hurt me even more."

"Yoko you have to stand up to him. What you're feeling is typical of an abusive relationship, but that's still no reason to put up with it." Mimi tried her best, but what did she know? What did she know about anything? She was just a simpleton student who managed to blow up presidential elections into a full blown feud between students.

Yoko surprised her by pulling away from the embrace and taking her sweater off. The number and intensity of the bruises upon Yoko's arms and torso left Mimi's mouth hanging open. Their eyes met once again, and Mimi's blood boiled in sheer hate towards Jet Suzuki. They stared at each other, speechless, until Yoko pulled the sweater over her body, hiding her bruises once again.

Her nostrils flared. "I've had enough!" Yoko watched her, apprehensive, and Mimi elaborated as to not confuse her. "I've had enough with Jet Suzuki. I fucking hate him _oh so much_." She took Yoko's hand in hers, "Yoko we are going to the councilor. We have to talk to somebody. We have to press charges."

Or else, it would never end.

**333**

_Tuesday_

**-Sora**

Oft times Sora found herself at the library early in the morning before class started. The library offered her a reprieve from the school and her sports and her feuding friends. It was also her time to finish leftover homework and occasionally read a magazine or two. Today, however, she was doing neither.

Sora sat in a lonely corner, right next to the fantasy novels, her hand idly doodling over her chemistry textbook. She had homework due in about 20 minutes, but couldn't bring herself to finish it. All fifteen problems dealt with finding rate orders and figuring out the kinetics in chemical reactions, but quite frankly, chemistry wasn't Sora's forte. She slumped herself, defeated, onto the oak desk, and doodled graphics around the chemical structures within her textbook.

Her solitude was interrupted and she shot up, startled, when someone tickled her side. Her brusque movements made Sora nearly elbow the perpetrator in the groin in surprise. Matt jumped back (to protect certain body parts) and toppled over several books as he used the bookshelf behind him for balance and support.

A burst of giggles interrupted the stillness of the library. Sora got up and arranged the books back into place, her laughter still resonating within the fantasy isle. Matt sat next to her seat, a pretty smile capturing his lips.

"When I came over to the library to look for the novel of our English assignment, I never imagined I would find you here," his fingers followed the pattern of Sora's doodling, but said girl quickly withdrew the book from view, else Matt discovered his name somewhere in her unintended doodles. "So this is where you hide in the morning?" He leaned forward, his blue eyes capturing hers.

"I'm not a hundred percent jock, I hope you know…"

He chuckled, "Sure… more like ninety percent."

There was a pause, during which Sora tittered prettily at his humor. Eventually, when both realized there was nothing else to be said, Matt began, "Mimi never came back after she walked off with that Yoko chick."

Sora nodded, "Yeah, they went to the councilor."

"Oh yeah? What'd they do there?"

"Mimi's parents ended up pressing charges against Jet, using Yoko as a witness."

"_No way_." Matt leant back, astounded. The boy not only got a nice beating courtesy of Tai, but probably was now going to end up going to court, and all for some petty elections.

Sora began gathering her things inside her backpack, seeing how the time for the first period was drawing close. "I'm so glad we don't have any psycho friends…" She murmured half-mindedly.

Somehow Matt had crept closer, for when she looked up, his eyes were right there, locking with hers. "But still, Mimi and Tai are suffering because of that bastard." His staring was unnerving her, but she daren't look away. In their proximity, she detailed his eyes. His irises were a pool of blue as solid and resilient as his friendship with her. "Although, something tells me that they've come to their senses after this. I talked to Tai yesterday afternoon. He seems… star-struck?" His breath smelled of sweet peppermint…

Sora found it hard to breathe. She grew self-conscious of her eyes, of her messy bangs, of the smell of her own breath. She wanted to turn away, suddenly growing terrified, but realized she just couldn't. How did Matt have so much power over her?

"Sora—" he brought her back from her musings, and an incredible lump traveled to her throat at his words, "I know it's not your thing, but would you like to go to the Spring Dance with me?"

His gaze traveled from her eyes to her nose, to her lips, to her bangs, back to her eyes, and the lump in her throat left her mute. _Say something!_ She screamed to herself, but her lips had frozen over.

Blond eyebrows began to furrow, and it was then that Sora drew the courage to swallow loudly and exhale a blissful, "_Yes_." She wasn't sure she had seen eyes lit up so beautifully before. "Yes, yes!" She repeated, excitedly.

But Matt never replied anything back. Instead, he flew forward and his lips found hers, locking together as if they belonged there.

**333**

**-Davis**

Over twenty minutes ago their English teacher asked them to write an essay regarding someone that influenced their lives, and all Davis had been able to manage was his name and date across the top of the page. He knew what he wanted to write about… maybe about his experience with Ken, or his friendship with Tai, or anything relating to the Digital World, but how could he possibly turn that in? He imagined his teacher expected a boring essay regarding Karl Marx or Oda Nobunaga and their contribution to society, but what did he care about people like that?

Students around him began chatting as more and more finished their assignment. Davis, however, was quickly losing hope. He overheard the girl next to him giggle about what she was going to wear to the Spring Dance to her friend and his mind quickly forgot all about the blank paper before him.

The gossip regarding Tai's epic fight was quickly dying down. The student body already deemed Tai the hero, Mimi the damsel in distress, and Jet an evil villain that had no business becoming Student Council President. Therefore their attentions were quickly veering off to fresher topics, like the Spring Dance. He had to admit, the school did seem a lot quieter without the presidential elections drama.

Just then, as if the universe was intent on distracting him further from his assignment, the peace in the classroom was disturbed as Joe came waltzing in, straight to whisper a few sweet words to their teacher. The older woman clapped her hands together and begged for their attention before directing Joe to the front of the class.

His black eyes made contact with Davis's chocolate before he cleared his throat and began with his speech. "Hi guys, as you all know—or at least I hope you know—I am your current Student Council President," he smiled at the few chuckles he received. "And as you also probably realized, courtesy of our advertisers (who bombarded the school with Spring Dance flyers), the Spring Dance will be held here in the school this upcoming Friday. The Spring Dance is where the new Student Council officers will be announced. And yes, it is my job to go from class to class to say my goodbyes, seeing how you guys will probably be voting for somebody else tomorrow, on Voting Wednesday, and this will be my last year being president.

"Historically the Student Council has looked over the student population's best interest. We are here to organize fundraisers, decorate the school, prepare the socials and the dances, among other tasks, despite the popular belief that the Student Council officers only join to gain popularity. Personally I ran so I could have something to put down on my university application," he chuckled and the class laughed. "But alas, this is my last year in high school, and I need another bright student to take my place—otherwise I would have run again," more laughs. "So make sure that tomorrow, when you vote, you write down the name of the officers that are going to have the student population's best interest at heart. This is not about who the best soccer player is or who looks the prettiest."

At that, Davis' hand immediately shot up. His teacher glared at him, probably because in a speech you are not supposed to interrupt with questions, but he didn't care, Joe was his friend. "So who are the candidates for President, then?" His lips were already curving up to a devious smirk.

Joe coughed nervously, his lips also smiling, and he replied lamely, "Well due to the recent events, which we've all loved to talk about and discuss in the past day, Mimi is the only candidate left as of now." There was a murmur of agreement within the class, and Davis' smirk only grew. How funny that there he stood, telling them to vote for the best candidate, when they didn't even have a choice anymore. Davis' vote had always been for Tai, but now it was only Mimi left. Did she deserve his vote? He wasn't yet sure. Not that it mattered to the results anyways. Her victory was assured.

"So guys, the current officers spent a lot of time preparing and organizing this dance. Come out! Even if you don't care about voting or the elections! Bring your friends, your brother or sister, or your grandma if you don't have a date." The class laughed, including Davis. Maybe he would bring his grandma after all…

"It was fun serving as your President. And if you don't like me, tough luck, I will be here until school is over!" The class laughed once again and he said his goodbyes and simply waltzed away, as quickly as he had come.

Everyone suddenly forgot they were supposed to be writing an essay and the class erupted in murmurs and whispers. Each whisper had to be louder than the other, until the peace and quiet of the class was permanently perturbed. His teacher never once paid them heed.

Davis was beginning to bite on his fingernails, as the essay ordeal started to unnerve him, when suddenly he felt a paper ball hit the back of his head. He quickly whipped around, but no one was even looking at his direction. Just for good measure, Davis picked up the paper ball and unrolled it. What he saw surprised him to no end.

The words _Spring Dance_ were written in bold letters on the middle of the page, and right below were two boxes. One was captioned _yes_, while the other was captioned _no_. His wild, brown hair flayed as he turned around to look for the culprit once more, only that this time he immediately caught a pair of pretty brown eyes. Lina had a startled look upon her face, like deer under headlights, which made her appear all the more alluring.

He turned back to his desk. _Let's see… Spring Dance with Lina yes or no…_ Did he even have to think about it? Davis quickly scribbled a sloppy check upon the box titled _yes _and crumpled it back into a tight ball. He turned once more and smiled at her direction. Davis tossed the ball, which she clumsily dropped initially, but her eyes lit up at the response upon the paper.

Oddly enough, his heart was beating hard as he watched her read his response. Not only was Lina friendly, but she was also easy on the eyes. Suddenly, Davis didn't dread going to the Spring Dance anymore.

It wasn't until his teacher began asking for the essays that Davis started to panic. Here he sat, musing over the Spring Dance when he should have been finishing his assignment! Well at least he had a date. _Stupid Davis! Stop daydreaming and start writing!_ His fingernails found their way back into his mouth.

Maybe he could write about his soccer coach?

**333**

**-Mimi**

It was weird; the sun was so bright that it _really_ hurt her. Her swollen eye was hypersensitive to anything, and this sunlight was likely to give her a migraine. Thankfully, before any more damage could be done, Kari directed her to the elevators of her apartment complex, and the two girls temporarily basked in the relief of the elevator's air conditioning.

Her fingers tingled while they walked down the corridor that led to the Kamiya residence. This would be her first time walking past these doors and these walls since her break up with Tai. Still, she longed to see his surprised countenance once she walked in to his home. Kari accompanied her, giving her the courage she needed.

They reached her apartment and Kari promptly welcomed her in. "I'm home!" Kari called out, but no one answered. The humble abode seemed deserted. The doors to the balcony were opened, creating a curious mixture of hot and cold air from the outside world and the inside air conditioning. To their left, on the kitchen sink, lay a pile of unwashed dishes, probably waiting for Kari to get home. Kari sighed loudly once she realized this, and dismissed Mimi, telling her, "Tai's probably in his room sulking by himself… I gotta clean this kitchen or else mom is gonna throw a tantrum."

Mimi giggled, "Ok Kari. Let me help you though—"

"Oh no please. Tai needs you more."

Mimi smiled, a twinge of red creeping up her cheeks, and turned down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. She had oft walked down these walls, whenever she wanted to sneak in and surprise her boyfriend back then. How weird it felt, to be back in the same house, walking towards the same bedroom.

She reached the door with the soccer posters and stopped. Knocked once, waited, knocked twice, and a voice from the inside prompted her in. Her heart was ready to jump out of her throat when she walked inside. The musky scent of his room filled her senses, bringing back bittersweet memories.

Tai had his back to the door. He sat by his computer, deeply engaged in a shooting game. Her lips curled up, remembering their Counter-Strike nights. "Yeah, what's up?" He casually asked, probably thinking that Kari had been the one to walk in.

"Tai…"

At the sound of her voice Tai stilled, and suddenly his character in the computer was shot down, due to his distraction. The game was instantly pushed to the back of his mind as he rotated his chair around, to see her standing by his doorway. This was the first time Mimi saw Tai since his fight in the hallways, and she nearly gasped at the bruises upon his face. They looked like a duo now, him with his bruised face and busted lips and her with her black eye.

He rose. "Mimi… you're here?"

Her feet felt glued to the floor where she stood. Tai approached, gingerly at first, until he took a gentle hold of her hand and directed her to sit by his bed. She grew bolder, and almost touched the side of his face, which had two small bandages hiding the cuts from Jet's punches. "So… he managed to hurt us both—"

"No. He managed to get his ass whooped," Tai smiled, and the side of his face looked stiff and twisted as his eyes rounded to match the curve on his lips. "If you ask me, that black eye kind of looks attractive on you," then, once she glared playfully, he added in, "It adds depth to your character. Come on Mimi, how many girls your age have had a black eye?"

"Girls like Yoko." The words left her mouth before she could realize the implications, and a somber mood settled between them. She quickly elaborated, to sooth his questioning stare, "She was a victim as much as us… I know it's hard to forgive her, but she was just so terrified."

"Matt told me you two talked yesterday… please don't tell me you're best friends with her now…"

Mimi smiled, "No. It's nothing like that. But all this happened because I tried to help her in the first place, so now that the plates have shattered and the mess is made, I might as well really help her."

"Soooo…"

"So my parents went to the police and pressed charges against Jet, and Yoko cooperated as a witness." Tai whistled. "If all goes well Jet could be sent to juvie, or he could just have to serve a fuckload of community service hours."

"Oh I'm sure he'll dread all those days mowing the lawn at the local church," Tai laughed with his touch of sarcasm and the tension between them was lifted once again.

"Tai?"

"Hmm?" His chocolate eyes lit up, for he recognized that tone…

"Thank you for beating the crap out of Jet Suzuki," and she blushed. There was a second of silence in which they both drew nearer, and Mimi knew that look in his eyes. It was the same from months ago; it was the same as when they were outside the gyms a week ago. Before the irreversible could be done, however, Mimi quickly adverted their attentions away from each other and to what she had actually come for. "Tai, so Joe told me you were suspended, and also banned from running for presidency."

"Yeah—"

"But, do you think you're banned from being Vice-President?" His mouth hung open at her question, making her giggle at his dumbfounded expression. "Sora's not convinced about being Vice-President. I don't want to force that on her, you know? And you seemed ready to be President… so how would you like to be my elected Vice-President?"

He flopped back onto his bed and laughed soundly. "Yes, of course! Hah! Wait till the school hears this… they'll think Jet's gossip about us was actually true."

Mimi also leaned back onto the bed, so that they were now laying side by side, facing each other. "The flyers… they were all self-fulfilling prophesies. Jet became the wife beater I deemed him to be and we ended up working together after all!" Mimi giggled, feeling goofy and content and cherished, especially with the way his eyes were roaming her face…

There was a knock on the door, and without waiting for permission, Kari walked in, her hands carrying two small plates. She smiled at them the moment she saw them lying together on the bed, making Mimi blush scarlet. Kari stepped forward, her plates holding freshly-made sandwiches, "This one is tuna, and this one ham and cheese—"

"Tuna!" Both Mimi and Tai called out at the same time, claiming the same sandwich.

"You've always liked tuna, haven't you?" Mimi still remembered that. He had once told her that the way to his heart was through tuna sandwiches.

"Great people think alike," Tai shrugged, taking the plates from Kari's hands. The younger girl walked out with one last glance Mimi's way, leaving them to their privacy.

They shared the sandwiches, taking small pieces at a time. Eventually Mimi just let Tai have the tuna, since Kari's ham and cheese was nothing short of amazing. Tai was saying something about how the soccer players admired him now, for besting Jet in a fight, but his words were lost amongst mouthfuls of bread and tuna, and Mimi only giggled at his carefree and friendly demeanor. Crumbs of the bread stuck to the side of his lips, and she occasionally used her thumb to wipe it clean. Once or twice she caught him blushing.

It was then that she realized what a fool she had been, to let someone like him slip away from her. Tai was genuine and courageous and kind. And to her, he was a prince. She felt silly. She wanted that back, but how could she dare bring something like that up, while they joked and ate and laughed?

Mimi was busy fuzzing with the browned edges of her sandwich when Tai began, "You know, I was kind of lucky… the principal almost banned me from the Spring Dance, too."

"Really?" Mimi was glad Tai had punched the daylights out of Jet, but she was starting to feel bad that he was the one to deal with all the consequences.

"Well yeah, he was pretty pissed. But Joe saved me, I guess." Her head tilted several degrees to the side in confusion and curiosity. "Joe had been eavesdropping on the principal's office the entire time apparently. But at that moment he walked in and told the principal that the reason for the fight was because Jet punched you." Her eyes doubled over, but Tai continued nonetheless, "Jet and I had to sit by ourselves in the principal's office while the principal walked out and consulted the secretaries and Joe, and apparently they confirmed that Jet had assaulted you. The idiot was taunting me in the office though, daring me to punch him to death right there and then—"

"_But you didn't_?" Mimi was alarmed… Joe never mentioned this side of the story.

"No… I'm not that stupid—Jet already knew he was fucked; all he wanted was to bring me down with him. Well the principal came back and decided to only ban him from the dance." Tai gave her a toothy smile and Mimi let out a breath of relief. With Tai, anything and everything was possible.

Now that their sandwiches were eaten and finished, they sat side by side, their legs touching occasionally and dangling from the edge of the bed. Mimi could tell there was something right at the tip of his tongue, something he wanted to tell her. And she grew nervous. Her heart pounded, as she, too, wanted to tell him exactly what she felt, how sorry she felt, but realized that the lump in her throat left her mute.

"Mimi—" he sighed, and the look in his eyes terrified her. There were so many thing she wanted to say… if only she took a leapt of faith—

"Will you go to the Spring Dance with me? I mean if you don't already have a date—I mean, I'm sure you're going, right? You are being elected that day and—" He tripped on his words, but Mimi saved him instantly. She gently grasped his face with both hands (taking special care not to hurt his wounded side) and made him face her.

Her honey pools captured those chocolate swirls. She could feel his ragged breath, could see the alarm and anticipation in his eyes. "Yes, Tai," he drew nearer and she panicked.

She broke eye contact, terrified that those lips of him would find the courage to plant against hers. She loved him to pieces, but was so apprehensive from their past. Tai searched her face for a while, until she told him with a sad smile, "I wanted to go with you so badly last year…"

"What?"

"Yeah, and now, after all this, I can finally say yes—" she knew she sounded awfully corny, and was afraid that Tai would burst out laughing at her silliness any moment now. Tai did neither, but the comforting silence between them was interrupted when something began vibrating deep in her pocket. Mimi fumbled, took her phone out, and nearly jumped out of the bed in surprise. Her eyes rounded at the text message she received.

"What's wrong?" He asked her softly. Perhaps he thought that with his tone she would be soothed.

"I forgot! I have to go to the police station to testify against Jet. My parents are asking where the hell I am." They exchanged goofy looks, until Mimi burst out in giggles.

"Let me give you the advice my mother tells me every time I go to the doctor."

"Oh?"

"Make sure you're extra dramatic." And she smiled prettily at his words. Mimi leant forward, planted a kiss on his forehead, and scurried out of his room. Oh she would be extra dramatic. After all, drama was her expertise.

* * *

><p>Please leave a review :).<p> 


	8. The Spring Dance

_Author's Note/Speech: _Hi everybody! I hope you are ready for the finale of ITWCD. This chapter was VERY fun to write, so I hope it is also very fun to read! I want to thank all of you who stuck with me to the end and sent me encouraging reviews, because frankly knowing that I had awesome readers was what motivated me to finish such a long story!  
>Now this chapter is about a dance, so I do have a recommended playlist (I listened to these songs-among others-while I was writing this chapter). I recommend listening to "Gangnam Style" by PSY and "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake whenever queued in the story. Also I recommend "No Air" by Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown in some of the more romantic parts. And finally, for the end, I recommend listening to "If The World Crashes Down" by Enrique Iglesias (the title and overall theme of the story was inspired by this song!).<br>So, without further ado, read and review!

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><p><em><strong>The Spring Dance<strong>_

_Friday_

**-Sora**

It was hot enough that they were better off with the windows closed and the air conditioning turned up all the way. Beyond her curtained windows, well past the Odaiba Bay, the sun slowly set, casting crimson lights upon her room. Her bedroom was a royal mess, but right now Sora didn't care. Unfolded underwear and mismatched shoes littered the space, while an assortment of hair products, accessories, and makeup cluttered her dresser and even some parts of the floor. She sat in front of the dresser, her chocolate eyes surveying her reflection on the mirror, again and again, her insides in a weird mixture of excitement and uneasiness.

Red curls shaped her face, from her temples down to her neck. The eyeliner and mascara on her eyes gave her a heavy-lidded look, a "bedroom eyes" look, as Mimi often preached to her. Her cheeks were redder than usual, and her skin flawless. The only part of her face that remained untouched by the makeup were her lips—"Mimi, what color lipstick should I wear?"

Said girl lay on the bed, her big honey eyes staring at the ceiling while she mellowed out to the soft pop tunes emitting from Sora's stereo. "Mimi?" Sora had to repeat herself, already knowing that Mimi was lost in one of her daydreams, yet again.

"Um… your eyes are stunning so you should pick something soft for your lips. Maybe flesh color? Or light pink?"

Sora rolled her eyes, "Why would I wear flesh colored lipstick? I might as well not wear any!" Her brunette friend giggled, scarcely affected by her sass. Sora's makeup had been Mimi's idea from the very beginning; Sora was never much of a makeup fanatic. Still, Mimi didn't move from the bed. Sora noticed her twirling her straightened hair with her finger, lost in thoughts and inadvertently messing up her hairdo.

Clad in only her bra and undies, Sora left her seat by the dresser with a sigh to withdraw her Spring Dance dress from the walk-in closet. A lightweight thing of nearly see-through aquamarine chiffon and jeweled rims accompanied with crystal sandals was to be her outfit for the Spring Dance. She slipped into the dress and tried zipping herself up, failing miserably at pulling the zip up her back.

"Mimi…" Sora whispered in defeat, walking back to her messy bedroom. Mimi had finally sat up; she had a glow on her face that was foreign to her usual self, a glow Sora remembered she used to have back when she was with Tai. Despite her swollen left eye still being blatantly purple, Mimi looked beautiful—captivating even. She had straightened her hair down, making it look like a long blanket of chestnut. Her makeup was already done—dark pink eye shadow, dark mascara, and glossy lips—and like Sora, she had also put on her Spring Dance gown; a tiny, cream white strapless dress with light ruffles on the skirt.

Mimi gave her a smile, relishing on the fact that her best friend needed her help. She zipped Sora up and turned her towards the mirror, where both their images were reflected. They looked extraordinary, both as pretty as the other. Sora let out a content sigh, her heart fluttering as she thought about her date with Matt. Mimi gave her a look and immediately her thoughts drifted to _Mimi's date_. It had come as a surprise to Sora, and at the same time she felt silly for not seeing it coming. She should have known, after all Tai and Mimi had an uncanny ability of always finding a way back to each other.

Her eyes flew over her alarm clock, which read 6:15 PM. "We should finish up…"

"And clean up your room?" Mimi probably felt guilty for also contributing to the mess in Sora's room.

Sora ran her fingers through Mimi's sleek locks, saying, "Nah. I'll take care of that when I get back. Come on! Let's put on our jewelry before the boys come get us." At this, Mimi blushed profoundly. She had said few words today, and Sora figured Mimi was just as nervous as her of going to the Spring Dance with her date.

"Now where are those earrings…" She went down on all fours, looking under the mess of mismatched clothes for the box of her earrings. Her fingers grazed on a smooth square object under the bed, undoubtedly the earrings' box, and at that instant she heard a continuous beeping emanating softly from the other side of the room. Initially she dismissed it as being Mimi's phone, but it continued to beep incessantly even after she had gotten up and had put on the crystal ball earrings.

"Mimi is that your phone—"

"No, is that _your _phone?" They looked at each other, then at the source of the sound: Sora's desktop computer in the other corner of the room. Its screen, which merely seconds ago had been off, turned on in flashes of white.

"What the hell?" They walked in unison towards the computer, but before they could reach it, Sora tripped on the power cord of the curling iron that lay hidden within the pile of clothes and bibelots on the floor. Yelping, Sora nearly flew forwards and onto the floor, but Mimi was quick to catch her. Off balance, she was in the process of dragging Mimi crashing down when suddenly a blinding light overtook the room. The world spun around them and an incredible sucking sensation from the stomach out overwhelmed her senses until she couldn't see or feel any longer.

Up became down and vice versa and suddenly neither of them were in Sora's room anymore. The nauseating sensation slowly evaporated away and with that her senses came alive once again. She heard many voices, some familiar, some not so much, and could feel Mimi still holding her.

The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was a dimly lit hall with a great ceiling nearly covered in overgrowth. The ceiling had small colorful lights, in the shape of butterfly fairies of a sort; lights which reminded Sora of a disco. Sora squinted her eyes, looked around, and realized she was holding Mimi in the same awkward position as in her room when they both tripped. Mimi had a dumbfounded expression, and her eyes suddenly doubled in size as she gazed upon something. Sora followed her gaze and saw a group of people—a group of Digi-Destined and Digimon—and her eyes also rounded in shock.

They let go of each other, almost awkwardly, and at that instant the group of people standing a few ways away noticed their presence. She saw Gennai, Tai, Matt, Ken, Kari, T.K., Cody, Palmon, Gatomon, Agumon, Piyomon, Gomamon, Gabumon, Tentomon, Patamon, Veemoon, Armadillomon, Hawkmon, Wormmon, and many other Digimon they had once seen in the Digital World, all dressed in extravagant attires, as if they, too, had their own personal dance.

"Sora! Mimi!" The world spun for a second as Sora was bombarded with greetings from everyone. Suddenly a flashing light overtook them and Yolei appeared in the middle of the dark hall, disheveled and confused, just as she had been. "There's Yolei!" Some of the Digimon cheered.

Sora took advantage of the instant when everyone greeted Yolei, just as they had greeted her and Mimi, to look around the room. There was music, now she noticed, and the hall was covered in tables that also seemed to be covered in overgrowth. Though after detailing the decoration she realized the overgrowth was intentional. The tables were arranged in a circular pattern, with a sort of dance floor in the middle of the hall. She felt like she had stepped into a garden world overflowing with lush vegetation and beautiful flowers. _A world of fairies_, she decided.

Gennai emerged from the excited crowd to give Sora and Mimi a hearty hug—the grandfatherly Gennai. Clad in a three-piece suit, he, too, was dressed for the occasion. "How was your voyage here?" He asked with a welcoming chuckle.

"Startling," Mimi quickly answered with blatant honesty.

"We are in the Digital World, aren't we?" Sora asked, her voice gentler than Mimi's. Her eyes followed Yolei and Hawkmon, who coincidently wore matching outfits. If Yolei knew about this whole "surprise," then why hadn't she known?

"You are correct, my dear."

Mimi looked around and her tone changed, undoubtedly liking what she was seeing, "Is this some kind of Digimon Spring Dance?"

"Your Digimon partners and I have been planning this reunion for quite a while. You see, I heard unnerving rumors that the Digi-Destined needed a reminder of what being a Digi-Destined meant." Sora noticed Mimi's blush at this. "And what better way to bring people together than with a party? I wanted it to be a complete surprise, which is why it is today, on the day of your other Spring Dance. That way you're already all dressed up! Brilliant, isn't?"

Sora wanted to face-palm herself. "Did Yolei know?" She couldn't help asking.

Gennai looked flustered, "Why do you ask that? Like I said, this was an utter surprise for you heroes."

"Her clothes match Hawkmon!" Sora felt herself blushing at her silly questions.

"Sora, you jelly?" Mimi giggled beside her, only making her pout.

"I'm sure those two are so much alike that they even dress the same without knowing!" Gennai laughed.

"But… where are Joe and Izzy and Davis?" Mimi asked as she looked around once again.

"Unfortunately, those three had dates with young ladies not related to the Digital World. We couldn't kidnap them and steal them away from their dates—now that would have been rude on my part." Sora wanted to roll her eyes at Gennai's logic. "Well you ladies enjoy yourselves. This is the resort your partners have been vacationing on all this time. Enjoy it! Food's unlimited, drink's unlimited, and the bedrooms are upper floors!" And with that Gennai withdrew to welcome Yolei.

"Unlimited food and drink, huh?" Sora's eyes had been on the refreshment table, which housed mountains of fruits and pastries and meats and drinks that looked incredibly appetizing, so she didn't notice Mimi scurrying away to chat with Kari and Palmon. When Sora turned around she felt silly for standing there and speaking to herself.

She tugged her ear, happy that at least she had been able to put on her shoes and her earrings before being stolen away to this surprise party, when suddenly someone pinched her side playfully, making her jump. She immediately knew the culprit; only Matt ever did that to her. Sora whipped around, white teeth flashing past flesh-colored lips.

"You look beautiful," was the first thing he said, making her weak in the knees. She surveyed him, noting that he, too, was quite the looker. He wore a navy blue suit, a blue so dark it almost looked black in the poor lighting. His blond locks had been combed through, making Sora feel like he was superstar.

"Thank you, Matt—"

She blushed, but he didn't wait for any subtleties, and with an alluring tone simply said, "Come here." His arms snaked their way around her waist, his grip sending lightning bolts down her heart and stomach, and slowly inched closer to plant a gentle kiss upon her lips. She hugged him closer and closer, her heart beating hard with love and mirth, and slowly felt herself enjoying the music in the hall, her eyes closing.

"You probably want to go say hi to Piyomon?" His whispered words tickled her ears and sparked her body in excitement.

Sora felt incredibly guilty saying, "Not really. I just want to be with you."

Matt bit hit lips coyly and took her hand in his. "Want to explore this place with me?"

She nodded so vigorously her curled hair bobbled by the frame of her face. Matt led her away to a balcony, Sora feeling herself being spirited away by the boy of her dreams.

**333**

**-Mimi**

"She screamed all the way until she hit the water! She was convinced it was gonna kill her! And when she resurfaced she didn't want to come out!" Palmon giggled loudly, her vines patting the short fur on Gatomon's back. Gatomon, too, laughed heartily at Palmon's story.

"I'm a cat! I'm not supposed to like water!" Gatomon was leaning against the ivy-covered railings of the balcony, which overlooked the lake the two Digimon had just been talking about. A tall waterfall flanked the lake from the other side, but in the darkness of the night only the reflected lights of the hall upon the lake's surface were visible.

"But come on! That lake is so delicious!" Palmon was drinking from one of the crystal goblets given out in the dance. She looked posh and mature and radiant with her goblet and her pretty dress and her smiles. She was wearing a pink gown much similar to the one she had worn when Mimi was a princess in ShogunGekomon's palace; the only difference being the leafed tiara with the garnet gem in the middle placed upon her fuchsia petals.

"Delicious, huh?" Tai approached the balcony, making Mimi jump in surprise. Thankfully for her, he never once noticed.

Agumon followed right behind him, wearing an ebony tux that didn't quite match his demeanor. He motioned to the dance floor, where Gomamon, Ogremon, Ken and Yolei, and a handful other Digimon were quite engaged dancing to a popular hip-hop song. "I had no idea Ogremon could go down that low…" Agumon looked visibly embarrassed when the others burst out in laughter at his tone and the ironic truth that Ogremon, in fact, was going down quite low to the beat of the music.

"Who is DJ?" Mimi asked, and at that moment the song changed to the contagious international hit, "Gangnam Style". The hall erupted in cheers and laughter, following with both humans and Digimon pooling in to the middle of the hall to dance to the song. Agumon took Palmon's vine arm and whisked her away to the dance floor. She followed without complaint, winking at Mimi on her way past the balcony.

Gatomon, too, began moving to the beat of the music, leaving Mimi openmouthed at how she knew the choreography to the song. "Sorry guys! Can't miss this one!" And she scurried away.

Tai gave her an amused look, until Mimi couldn't maintain eye contact any longer. He laughed and leaned closer, lifting her chin up, forcing her to look at him, and honey met brown. He looked so handsome, with his hair spiked and his lean body covered from neck to toe in an ash grey suit. "Kinda sucks that Gennai just kidnapped us using the Digi-Ports; I was looking forward to picking you up."

"Oh yeah?" She blushed.

Tai shrugged coyly, "Yeah. Dad even let me borrow his car to come get you."

Her knees went weak and her heart skipped a beat or two. Oh how she would have liked to see that. Smiling, Mimi took a step closer to him, noticing the slight pain her pumps were beginning to inflict on her feet.

He extended his hand out and, in that charming tone of his, told her, "Since you're supposed to be my date for tonight, it's only appropriate I ask you for a dance."

That's right, this was her date. This handsome boy with the busted lip and the lopsided smile and the Courage Crest was her partner for tonight, and she would enjoy it. For a second she dared herself to forget everything except that right now, at this very moment, it was just him and her. Without hesitation, Mimi welcomed him and placed a lithe hand on his. They turned and left the privacy of the balcony.

Almost in unison, their bodies began jumping towards the crowd, mimicking their friends' choreography and the beat of the song. The dim lights overhead flashed ethereal colors and the booming music thrummed in her ears, deafening her senses. Sora was dancing with Matt next to her, and Mimi bumped her bottoms against her to catch her attention. They locked gazes for a split second and laughed.

Tai whipped her around and in a flurry of heels and ruffles and whooshing hair she faced him. His spiked hair swayed with his goofy movements, and Mimi watched him, feeling her heart swelling and feeling herself slowly falling in love. She drew closer and closer and just at that moment there was a transition to a slower hip-hop song.

She knew this song! The realization elated her. Mimi felt excited and wild and enamored. Her arms found their way around his neck, her body now tightly pressing against his. He held her, his hips and frame swaying her slowly from side to side, his hands leaving a burning trail everywhere they touched. Mimi leaned on his shoulder and chest, subconsciously singing the lyrics softly into his ears, "_'Cause I don't wanna lose you now…_"

"_I'm lookin' right at the other half of me_," he, too, sung along with her, his whispered words tickling the hairs on her ear and breeding sparks of bliss deep within her. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes and leaning her head onto Tai's shoulders was Sora and Matt exchanging a sensual kiss behind them. She wanted that too, but with the boy in her arms.

"_I'll tell you baby, it was easy, comin' back here to you once I figured it out_," her heart pounded hard as she continue to sing. "_You were right here all along_." She was going to do it, she was going to kiss him, she _wanted_ to kiss him, all she needed was the courage to—

"Mimi, I want you back…" His words made her stop her swaying hips, a hard lump settling on her throat. Mimi withdrew her arms to face him completely. They were both shrouded in darkness, but she was able to lock onto those chocolate eyes of his. "I want what we used to have back—"

His words were cut short as a crashing noise from the far end of the dancing hall interrupted them. All those that were on the dance floor abruptly turned to the source of the commotion. A couple Digimon had knocked over the ice swan that decorated the refreshment table, bringing down the fresh fruit decorations and the punch containers, making a majestic mess on the floor and on the table.

The people on the hall dispersed, some rushing over to help control the mess, others back to their tables or out to the balconies. Soon, Mimi and Tai found themselves standing by themselves in the abandoned dance floor. Tai's attention was on the commotion, however, so Mimi had a momentary reprieve to swallow his words. He gave her hand a squeeze as he turned back to face her, and told her, "I'm going to go give them a hand."

"But Tai—"

"I'll be back," his smile was contagious, so Mimi had no other choice but to let go of his hand. Her eyes sparkled strangely while she watched him walk away, inwardly telling herself, _please be back_.

**333**

**-Kari**

Kari stood by the spiraled staircase, her elbow leaning on its wide marble handles. She needed a breather; she was sure she was about to suffocate in her strapped tube dress. And her feet felt ready to either melt or pop off, not being used to heeled shoes. How did Mimi handle her pumps and Sora her high heeled sandals? Ok maybe she wasn't surprised about Mimi, but Sora…

She caught herself subconsciously moving to the beat of the music in the hall and decided she wasn't having such a bad time after all. Her brown eyes roamed the hall, taking in the sight before her. The Digi-Destined mingled and ate and danced and laughed, just like it was always meant to be. And the Digimon, innocent and friendly and genuine, were the best part of this dance, in her opinion.

Her gaze traveled to the refreshment table, which was slowly being put back into place. T.K. was amongst those helping out. Clad in a tieless, ocean blue suit, T.K. appeared grown up and captivating. She decided he looked like quite the teen heartthrob. Kari grimaced as she imagined herself chasing off girls that might try to steal him away. The thought made her laugh to herself though. T.K. wouldn't need her to do that; she trusted him wholeheartedly.

Kari finally sat on the stairs and spent the minutes reminiscing on their childhood; thinking about her adventure with her friends, with her partner, and her relationship with T.K. She was surprised when someone approached her sitting form, and her eyes brightened after seeing T.K. looming over her. He extended a hand out and helped her up.

Kari sighed prettily. "Is everything back in place?"

"Yeah, turns out we didn't have to help after all—Gennai brought the resort staff and the table was entirely replaced," he motioned to the refreshment table and Kari was astounded to see another ice swan standing right where the previous had been not so long ago.

Kari couldn't stop herself; she went on tip-toes and stole a kiss from her boyfriend. She left him glowing a curious shade of beet red.

"Heyyy—"

Kari just giggled.

"What's upstairs?" T.K. intertwined his fingers with hers and took several tentative steps up the stairs.

"Dunno."

"Wanna find out?" His lips curled up to a sly smile and Kari couldn't resist him any longer.

They skipped their way up to the second story excitedly. The sounds of the music were considerably muted upstairs. They tip-toed down the dark hallway, passing down a menagerie of closed doors, and it was then that Kari remembered this was some kind of hotel. Their hands parted and they went through every closed door in excitement, encountering one locked door after another, until finally T.K. flung a door open in the far end of the hallway.

They treaded quietly inside and discovered a beautiful room with a magnificent four-poster bed and two wide double glass doors that led to a balcony. T.K. shut the door behind her and Kari's stomach tingled at her disposition and at all the possibilities. She turned, wonderment written all over her eyes, and T.K. wrapped her in his arms, turning her over so that she was trapped between him and the door.

He bit his lips, his eyes searching hers, and her heart raced. She felt wild and excited and in love. She figured he was waiting for her permission, and Kari couldn't take the tension any longer. She went on tip-toes and placed rosy lips against his. This was all the encouragement he needed.

For the first time ever his tongue explored the depths of her mouth, and a feral sort of elation she had never felt before bred from deep within her. His fingers traced a burning path along her face, neck, shoulders. Their lips parted for a second and Kari couldn't help sighing heavy in pleasure, their foreheads leaning forward and touching.

Was she ready for this? Kari didn't think she could answer that. Her thoughts raced through all the possibilities, but her musings were interrupted when T.K.'s hand circled her waist and his lips found their way to hers. His closeness and the heat between them made her forget everything. All she cared about was the now; all she cared about was that it just was _him and her_.

**333**

**-Mimi**

The night was perfect, yet her heart ached. She _wanted_ Tai, but he was still hung up with the mess of the refreshments table. Mimi leaned both elbows against the lush railing of the balcony, her lips in a slight pout as she tried to imagine her conversation with Tai. She played it out in her head but knew it was futile, things never worked out the way she imagined them.

Mimi then remembered that tonight she would be announced as Student Council President, in the _other_ dance. How long was she supposed to stay here? And was she allowed to leave at all?_ Joe must be livid_, she thought. She was sure the other Digi-Destined wouldn't care about leaving, after all this seemed to be a party only imaginable in dreams. The decoration was very similar to what she had planned for their high school dance, but what made this perfect was their Digimon companions. Even though Wormmon and Veemon were responsible for trashing the refreshments table, the night wouldn't be the same without them.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she felt someone's presence next to her on the balcony. Her peripheral vision caught sight of spiky, brown locks and her heart performed a series of phenomenal acrobatics. Mimi inhaled heavily before facing Tai fully.

That charming expression of his made her blush an interesting assortment of reds. "Why the long face, Meems?"

"I—I kind of wish I was at the other dance—I mean I like it here, but I would at least want to be there for the end." His lopsided smile made her trip on her words, "I planned it, you know? And the election results are going to be announced…" She fuzzed with the ruffles of her skirt, her eyes avoiding his.

"People are going to think you don't want to be President." He scratched the back of his hair. "Watch, they give the presidency to someone else cause you aren't around. What's after Vice-President? Secretary or Treasurer? Maybe they'll take our positions." Mimi met his gaze with a glare, an awkward silence settling between.

He scratched his temple, "Um… bad joke, sorry." He went back to leaning against the railing, his eyes gazing out at the dark lake and Mimi grew angry at him. Why did he have to say that back when they were dancing if he wasn't going to elaborate?

How typical of Tai, to get her worked up about something and then leave her hanging. She gazed out at the glistening lake, too, her heart racing. She had to tell him how she felt; she had to let it all out, she couldn't take it anymore. And if he didn't want her affection, if their war had scarred him so that he wouldn't want to get back with her, then she would just get over it.

The words were stuck in her mouth—her heart racing so fast she was sure it would tear a hole right through her chest. _Open your mouth! Just say it!_

"You've made a mess of me, Mimi." His words cut through their stillness like a sharp knife. Her brows furrowed and she faced him fully, but he still wouldn't return her gaze. "You confused me so much to the point that I didn't know if I hated you or loved you," his brown eyes finally met with her honeys, yet he left her speechless. Mimi wasn't sure whether to be mad or to encourage him.

"But now I know." A pause, then, "I like you more than a week ago, or a month ago, or when we were together." He stepped closer to her and the air got caught in her lungs to the point Mimi felt like she was suffocating.

His ears turned beet red as he continued, "I couldn't imagine ever going back in time to a different time, I wouldn't want to, because it's now that I like you the most. I don't regret everything that happened between us—all of that was just to make me realize that you were the one I wanted, _needed_." He chuckled in disbelief and Mimi felt her eyes stinging with the built up of tears. She wanted to reach out, wanted to cry, want to scream out and laugh, yet couldn't even move; she felt paralyzed. "No matter how much I tried to fight it, we were always drawn to each other."

He paused, surely waiting for her reaction, and Mimi felt a fool for not even being able to utter a reply. Was this real life? She couldn't be sure. The only thing she was absolutely and unmistakably sure about was that her heart beat itself bloody for him and him only.

She was sure her silence was discouraging him, she was sure he would take everything back now, instead he surprised her once again. Tai drew closer, one hand slithering under her hair and grabbing the back of her neck, and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss upon her lips. The sensation in her body awoke in a mad frenzy and Mimi felt in control once again. Her hands grasped the back of his hair and pressed her lips against him, kissing him passionately.

His hands were everywhere now, on her hair, on her waist, on her bosom, and his lips, dominant and adventurous and passionate as always, explored her mouth without shame or hesitation. She felt herself back in time, as if all these months had never happened, only that her emotions and feelings towards him seared stronger.

Tai pressed her back against the balcony railing and pressed himself closer to her until the overgrowth decorating the railing hurt and left marks upon her dress and back. Mimi pushed him back playfully and both panted heavily for a second or two. Tai found himself closer to her once again, holding her in a protective embrace. Her head leaned against his chest and neck, and for an instant Mimi could swear she felt his rampant heartbeat; he was just as nervous, if not more, than she had been.

"I missed you." She remembered this tone, his voice deep and throaty, it was the tone reserved for her and her only.

"Are we mad?" She couldn't think of any other explanation.

"No—in love."

They held each other for several long minutes. Around them, the music flowed and changed with the time, yet they continued to bask in each other's embrace, never uttering a word. And it was perfect. Mimi could only think one thing that would make this the best night of her life—

"You probably want to go find out the elections' results," Tai's words cut through her train of thought and for a second Mimi was flabbergasted; it was as if he had read her mind.

"How did you know?"

Tai let go of her and burst out in hearty laughs. "Mimi I know you too well. Even though you are the only candidate—"

"It's not that!"

"I know… it'll look bad if you don't show up." They exchanged a pretty smile. "Well how do you think it's going to look for the Vice-President?" He didn't wait for her reply, instead he leant forward and whispered into her ear, "Let's sneak out of this dance and go back to the real world?"

Mimi took advantage of his proximity to place a kiss on his lips.

**333**

**-Davis**

"_Chug! Chug! Chug!_" Davis chanted along with the crowd of teens excitedly. They watched expectantly as the boy in the middle of the crowd swallowed mouthfuls of beer from the keg hose. The beer overflowed past his mouth and lips, showering his shirt and the floor with fat droplets of beer. Finally, after several long seconds, the boy waved the hose in the air high above them in victory. Everyone cheered, including Davis, and slowly the crowd began dispersing.

He took a sip from the beer bottle in his hand, walking back to the living room in the house. He thought about Lina and realized he hadn't seen her for quite a while. He hadn't seen her since she scurried to the bathroom in a mad rush a couple minutes ago. He made a detour to the downstairs bathroom, bumping with dancing and drinking teenagers on his way past the hallways, suddenly concerned.

There was a line of drunken girls to the bathroom, though she was nowhere to be seen, so Davis waited patiently. Maybe Lina was the one inside the restroom at this very moment. He checked his phone, hoping that Tai had replied one of the hundred text messages he had sent him, to no avail. The reason Davis was in this house party in the first place was because his friends had ditched him, so he was left with no other choice but to ditch the school dance with Lina and some of his soccer teammates.

A very drunk dude walked out of the restroom and immediately one of the girls in line rushed in. _She isn't here! _Davis was slightly annoyed, hoping that Lina hadn't ditched him too, and instead walked away.

He passed a room with a giant TV on his way to the patio and from his peripheral vision caught sight of a girl with long brown hair and a pretty yellow dress. He did a double turn and entered the room. Lina was laying on a sofa, visibly disoriented, while some kid Davis knew to be part of the swimming team was purring things into her ear, his hand quite blatantly trailing up her thighs and under her dress.

"Lay off her, you creep," he pushed the guy out of the sofa, his ears burning hot.

"How about you get the fuck off of me? She your girlfriend or something?" The guy had stood up, but Davis was not afraid of him; he was ready to punch the daylights out of him for trying to take advantage of Lina, especially since she was so visibly drunk.

Davis shoved the guy even further away from Lina. "Yes," he lied, "Get lost before I tear you a new asshole."

"Whatever. Fuck that. There are better chicks in this party anyways." And with that the guy left the room.

Davis sat to her side and was glad to see she recognized him. "Hey you," she tried touching his face; instead, her hand fell clumsily onto his shoulder.

"What happened Lina? One moment you were fine and now…"

"They gave me—they gave me a fruity drink," she giggled and hiccuped and motioned to the drink upon the coffee table in front of them.

Davis reached over and took whiff of the drink in question. All he could smell was strong liquor and mango or something. A sort of panic bred deep inside him; what if someone put something weird on her drink to get her messed up? It was either that or Lina was very lightweight… or very sheltered…

"This is my first time getting drunk!" Lina sat up excitedly, then immediately pouted, "And it sucks. I thought I would be dancing and flashing everyone." They both laughed heartily, and Davis suddenly didn't care if Lina's drunkenness had put an end to his night.

"Let's go home Lina," he helped her out of the couch and they limped awkwardly out of the room.

"Am I in trouble, Davis?" Her pretty brown eyes rounded in alarm and Davis didn't have the heart to be annoyed or mad at her.

"No, silly." _Not if your parents don't find out_. "You can sober up at my place."

Davis ended up holding Lina's sandals in one hand while he guided her through the streets with his other hand. She swayed and tripped as she happily sang one of the songs that had been played in the party over and over. All the while Davis thought about his so-called friends, who left him going to the dance by himself, and never once called him to tell him what was up. Then his thoughts trailed to Lina, who had been genuine and brave enough to ask him out to the dance. She stuck by him to the end. At this, Davis smiled.

"Hey mister, you shouldn't take me home!" She blurted after finishing the song for the umpteenth time.

"And why is that?" They stopped at the intersection of a lonely neighborhood.

"My mom would ground me for life!"

"Yeah, I bet. And she would probably ban me from seeing you ever again."

Despite her drunkenness, Lina was still able to comprehend the implications of his words. Her brown eyes widened in surprise and a red tint crept to her cheeks. "You… you want to keep seeing me?"

"Why not?" He said with a chuckle.

"I ruined your night…" Lina bit her lips and Davis suddenly wished he had the permission to touch them.

"I don't see it that way—" but before he could finish Lina clumsily threw herself at him, tripping half way through and landing in his arms.

"Lina… what are you doing?"

"I was gonna kiss you, like in the movies, but I failed…"

Davis couldn't help bursting out in loud laughter. He let her go and doubled over in mirth, her dumbfounded expression only fueling his glee. "Stop that, that's rude!" She smacked him in the shoulder lightly, and still Davis continued to laugh until small tears gathered on the corner of his eyes.

"I'm—I'm sorry. You're just—you're just too—"

"_Drunk?_"

"You're just too damn cute."

They stared at each other for several long seconds, both suddenly serious, until Davis extended his hand out. Lina took hold of his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. "I want to keep seeing you because you seem like a great girl," he squeezed her hand in his even tighter. "But… I don't think you should kiss me while you are drunk. I think you should do it only if you truly mean it."

She looked down, a wide smile forming on her lips. "You are right."

"So, let's go to my house and sober up?"

She nodded prettily. "Yes, mister."

**333**

**-Tai**

Tai felt lightweight, ethereal even. He waltzed past the dance floor, past the lights and the music and the people, his fingers intertwined with his ex-girlfriend's, and felt like it was all a dream. He had kissed Mimi Tachikawa for the first time in half a year, he had embraced her, and he had caressed her hair, as if nothing ever happened between them. As if they weren't supposed to hate each other.

He allowed himself to steal a peek behind him, to catch a glimpse of her honey eyes, and couldn't help the smile that crept to his lips. She followed him in silence as they dodged between Digimon and Digi-Destined while they treaded through the dance floor. He was going to elope from this dance with the girl he was supposed to hate, yet couldn't help but love, and he needed a certain Digimon to do so.

Tai spotted Agumon lounging by the refreshments table and made a detour towards him. Agumon was leaning closer to Palmon, whispering sweet things to her while they both munched on whatever was left of the food. The sight brought a smile to his lips; how appropriate it turned out to be, that Agumon would have feelings for Palmon while he was madly in love with Mimi.

"Agumon, Palmon." Agumon's eyes flew to their hands, which were still blatantly intertwined. Palmon, too, immediately had a look.

"Hey Tai… what's up?"

Mimi was smiling too much to seem to be able to say something, so Tai took the lead, as per usual. "How do we get back to the real world?"

"Why? What's going on?" Palmon didn't waste any time to freak out, making Mimi giggle.

"Palmon, you guys kind of… kidnapped us…"

"Well it's not like a surprise visit to the Digital World hasn't happened before," Agumon crossed his arms, a hint of sass in his tone. Perhaps he was annoyed that Mimi's and Tai's relationship constantly confused him.

Tai clicked his tongue. "_I know_! But come on guys, Mimi and I are going to be announced President and Vice-President of the Student Council in the other dance!"

"We're not supposed to tell you," the sass was ever more present, and now both Palmon and Agumon had their arms crossed.

A fake, ear to ear smile overtook Tai's features. He leaned forward and grasped Agumon's shoulders before saying slowly, as if Agumon was slow of hearing, "Agumon, if you don't tell me how to get back to the real world, I'm going to _drown_ _you_ in the _punch_." Agumon eyed the giant bowl of punch upon the refreshment table apprehensively.

The threatening effect was slightly diminished by Mimi's incessant giggles, but Agumon seemed intimidated enough by the prospect of taking punch up the nose. "Fine." He said crossly, brushing Tai's hands off him. "Upstairs every room has a computer with a Digi-Port. There should be one last room unoccupied so you don't need a key, at the end of the hall." Then Agumon thought about it and simply withdrew a key from the inside pocket of his tuxedo, "Or find my room and use my key."

Tai snatched the key right out of his hand, "Thanks buddy."

Mimi and Tai crossed the dance floor in a blur. Mimi was momentarily caught between a dancing Andromon and Centarumon at some point, but Tai was there in an instant to her rescue. When they reached the stairs they had to stop, for Mimi couldn't take the pain of her pumps any longer. She took the heels off and skipped her way up the stairs in bouts of genuine laughter, Tai at her trail.

The second floor was so dark Tai toppled against Mimi when they began checking door to door. Agumon had been right, all doors were locked. Tai momentarily wondered if there was anybody inside any of them. "_Ssh_," Mimi placed a single finger against her lips, as if they were intruding in someone's privacy by being upstairs, and said, "Agumon said the last door in the hall."

Her hand found his and she led him to the end of the hall. Somehow his insides were still tingling with excitement… the night was hardly over, and the possibilities excited him. They giggled their way to the door but stopped suddenly when Mimi tried to turn the knob and realized the door was locked. Tai gave it a shot, and the door would not budge.

They exchanged a confused glance, until finally, Tai whispered, "Let's just find Agumon's room and use his key."

Again, they had to go door to door trying the one key, until finally one of the doors gave way to the twisting of the key. Tai pushed the door wide open and the two entered wordlessly, taking in the sight with a gasp. A king size, four-poster bed lay in the middle of the room, covered from roof to floor by heavy, mahogany drapery. The room was illuminated by the silver moonlight pooling in from the opened balcony double doors. The furniture was all of matching red oak and mahogany cushions, from the dresser to the book shelf to the love seat. Finally, in the corner of the room, an oak desk stood with the desktop computer.

Tai whistled in amazement as he sat on the edge of the bed. Mimi closed the door behind her and stood between Tai's opened legs, and for once he had to look up to her. They stared at each other for several long seconds, their eyes roaming, searching, conveying unspoken messages.

"I can't believe Agumon gets such a badass room…"

"Right…"

"Do you think all the rooms are the same?"

"I bet."

Mimi twirled Tai's brown locks, her lips smirking. "Do you think someone claimed that room in the end of the hall?" She asked coyly.

"Who?" Her smirk only widened. "The only possible… Sora and Matt?" Tai asked, his head tilting several degrees.

She leaned down closer to him, stopping merely centimeters away from his face, "Whatever. Do we care?"

"No." Tai closed the distance left by circling his hand behind her neck and bringing her down for a kiss. He kissed her lips, cheeks, nose, forehead, her swollen eye, anything his aching lips could come in contact with. They parted for a second and stared at each other, Mimi's eyes glistening with relief or tears or joy, he couldn't tell.

Tai embraced her, resting his face against her bosom. "I wish there was still a time difference between the Digital World and the real world. I don't want to go back. This is perfect. I want to stay like this with you forever."

Mimi held him tighter, digging her manicured nails deeper into his hair and scalp. "You can still have me when we go back," she whispered sweetly to him, and Tai only listened; listened to her voice, to her ragged breathing, to her accelerating heartbeat.

She pushed him back gently, making him let go of his embrace, and made him lay on the bed before crawling on top of him. The air was caught in his throat when the silvery moonlight illuminated her face, making her comely features appear ethereal. She looked like a fay, with silky locks that pooled around him and glossy lips that curled up to a small smile. Her fingers were tracing patterns around his face when he brought them to his mouth, wetting them in a kiss.

It was the kiss she gave him that made him forget everything and everyone. His hands found her waist, guiding her to sit on top of his crotch with both knees on either side of him. Their tongues wrestled with each other in a passionate kiss, Mimi leaning sensually closer and closer with every touch and every caress. She sighed and purred when his lips found her neck. And she only returned the gesture, and every kiss she placed along his collarbone and shoulder seared his skin.

A familiar tension quickly built up within his lower abdomen, and Tai lolled his head back for a second as he was overwhelmed by the sensation. Mimi, too, noticed the bulging in his pants. His eyes rounded, apologetically almost, but she gave him a loving smile that washed all his insecurities away. She grasped one hand and slid it under her ruffled dress, where his fingertips came in contact with the fabric of her panties and the naked flesh of her belly.

Tai swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly withdrew his hand from under her dress, as if her skin was painful to the touch. Her eyes rounded in alarm until he whispered, "I want to do things right this time. I don't want us to do something we'll regret later. I don't want us to have a reason to fight anymore." Tai felt like a fool for saying this—and couldn't believe himself—but knew he wasn't about to ruin this newly-formed relationship simply because of the longing in his pants.

Mimi giggled prettily and got off him before pecking the tip of his nose. "You're right… this is too soon." She stood from the bed and lent him a hand up as well. "Let's go back to the school."

"Yeah I'm sure we can just skip to the computer lab or something."

Tai knew how to maneuver his way through the Digi-Port interface way better than Mimi, and in a matter of minutes he had changed the setting to transport them back to the school's computer lab. Tai was nauseous by the time they were back in the darkness of the empty computer lab, but he had little time to recover, for Mimi grasped his hand and nearly sprinted out to the hallway, one hand holding his and the other holding her pair of heels.

Tai was thinking of how funny it would be if Mimi actually showed up to the dance barefoot when they reach the gyms. A booming noise emanated from one of the basketball courts and the hubbub of dressed up students in the hall signaled they had reached the Spring Dance. Mimi stopped to slip into her shoes (disappointing Tai) and at that instant someone yelled out their names from the crowd.

Joe excited the basketball court in an angry march, fuming. "_Where the hell_ have you two been? The dance started hours ago!"

"Joe, really, it's a long story." Mimi huffed.

Joe noticed their intertwined hands and angrily placed his hands on his hips. "Really? You bailed on the dance to hook up? You're being announced as Student Council President and you decide to show up this late?!"

"Chill bro—"

"This is not just hooking up. Plus we're here, so that's all that matters, right?" Her tone immediately changed and she offered Joe a smile he couldn't resist.

His anger evaporated away. "Well I hope you know I had to take credit for the dance decorations, since you weren't around. I've been getting quite the compliments all night long."

"Joe!"

"No one told you to show up late," he shrugged. "Well whatever, at least you're here right on time. I've been pushing the announcement for over ten minutes, though I doubt anybody gives a damn. They all just came for the music and to get laid tonight." Mimi and Tai laugh at his flatly-put honesty. He led them into the court where the music was considerably louder, saying, "And you, too, mister _Vice-President_."

They stopped at the back of a podium in the far end of the court, with Joe nudging them forward. "Wait, I have to go up, too?" Tai asked in disbelief.

"Of course, Tai. You're the Vice-President." This time it was Mimi the one that replied.

Tai begrudgingly went up the steps and stood behind Mimi in the podium, not too excited with being seen as Vice-President after the elections' fiasco. The other new Student Council officers slowly started to pool up the podium and finally the spotlight was on them.

Tai was blinded by the light while Joe gave a going away speech, though slowly but surely his eyes adjusted to the bright lighting. Unconcerned with the elections' protocol, his thoughts drifted. He thought about Mimi, and how pretty she looked in her short, ruffled dress and high heels. They really weren't anything yet, and as he observed all the curious and hungry eyes that looked at Mimi from the crowd, he immediately knew he wanted to be so much more. He wanted to be the only one to touch her, to caress her, to look at her that way. At this he glared at a couple male students in the crowd.

He was so entertained by his thoughts that before he realized it, the whole ordeal was over. Students began walking up the podium to congratulate the new officers and it was then that Tai decided he had had enough. He slithered down and snuck away to a table by a lonely corner. He felt empty as he looked around; this dance had an entirely different mood than the party they were having back in the Digital World. The mood and the music and the people here sucked.

His eyes found Mimi standing by herself in the middle of the dance floor after the crowd congratulating her had cleared. She looked disoriented, her eyes searching for something or someone. Despite his declining mood, Tai smiled at the sight of her. He left the seat and went her way, his eyes on nobody but her. Tai grasped her lithe hand and twirled her around.

Mimi's eyes glistened when they came upon him. She quickly closed the distance between them with a desperate hug, as if minutes without him had been torture. They didn't stay in the dance floor for long, though. Tai led her out the basketball court, ignoring the countless students that tried to catch their attentions to congratulate them.

The night was warm and still outside. They stopped, breathless, by the rusty doors where they had almost kissed a week ago. "Congratulations," Tai leaned forward, gracing her left ear with a feathery kiss. They kept walking towards the bleachers by the soccer field, Mimi's heels sinking deep into the moist grass with a whooshing sound with every step she made.

They sat close together on the bleachers, both basking on the quiet and on each other's company. The dance's music hummed silently by the gyms' door, but other than that the night was still, the moon round and bright above them. Tai's eyes were ahead on the dark grass, his thoughts oscillating on all the possibilities of the future. Although there was one thing he knew with absolutely certainty—

Mimi interrupted him musings, bringing him in an embrace. "You seem a little down, Tai…"

"Sometimes I think of all the things I should have said to you," his fingers graced the tip of her lower lip. "I hope it's not too late to make you understand that even though the world seemed to have crashed down over us, over our relationship, I know that it's you that I want. I know that with you my life will be complete."

Mimi's cheeks reddened, but before he could word his resolution, she blurted out, "I want to give "_us_" a try again." Her hair shook with her head as she fervently continued, "I don't know where we messed up last time, but I believe this is meant to happen. I want to be with you—I want to be your girlfriend again."

Tai smiled. She had read his mind. He leant forward, planted a gentle kiss upon her forehead, and whispered affectionately, "Of course." All this time he had tried to be somebody else, but this was who he was. He had tried to fool himself, only to fail. But the truth was that Tai, the Courage Crest holder, was irrevocably and irrefutably in love with Mimi.

**Fin.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>August 13, 2014:<strong>_

Hello reader! I'm happy to see that you made it this far into my writing! I hope the story was entertaining to some extent and that you enjoyed it! Maybe you will enjoy this:

I am writing a novel, original fiction, and I am looking for a couple of people who will beta read it in its early stages. Now when I say "beta reader" I don't mean that I need help with spelling or grammar or plot elements or characters or writing or any of that stuff. I want to find beta readers who will be willing to start giving it a read (and keep on reading if it interests them) and tell me how they feel about it. Was it fun? Retarded? Boring? Would you recommend it? That sort of thing. I wouldn't want much, just some input here and there.

If you are interested, please let me know and provide a way for me to contact you back (email, PM, etc.) and I will happily give you more info on the story to see if it sounds like something you would like to do.

Thanks again for your time and attention, have a nice one :)!


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